After getting approval, what's next for council's proposed rate rise?

The NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), announced on Tuesday, May 14, Tamworth Regional Council's application for a 36.3 per cent Special Rate Variation (SRV) had been approved in full.

"We went to the community, the community spoke to us, many opposed it and some supported it," Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

"However, IPART forensically examined our application, as they always do, and after their examination of where we're at, the way we spoke with our community, the way we put our figures together, and the financial savings and efficiencies we've delivered already, they agreed we need 36.3 per cent to continue to function."

The state government may have approved the rate increase, but it's up to the local council to decide whether to implement it.

Council votes tonight whether to approve its budget and other financial planning documents related to the 2024/25 financial period and put them on public exhibition.

There are essentially two budgets councillors will approve, one with the 36.3 per cent rate increase and one without. Both will go on public exhibition before coming back to council for final approval on June 25.

"After the community has looked at our draft budgets, our draft fees and charges, our annual operation plan, and made comments, all that will come back to the council meeting on the 25^th of June," Cr Webb said.

One option on the table for councillors is to delay the rate rise, but Tamworth Regional Council general manager Paul Bennett said doing so could create more problems than it solves.

"Councillors have the ability to implement it at any time over the next ten years, but I think it's important to remember that the financial planning we've done is based on that increase being implemented over the next two years," Mr Bennett said.

"As soon as you defer any part of that, that results in a deficit in the current budget that you can't catch up. You essentially forgo that income across whichever years you don't levy the increase.

Vice President of the Tamworth Regional Residents and Ratepayers' Association (TRRRA) David McKinnon says approving the full 36.3 per cent rate rise would be a huge mistake.

"It's just mind-numbing. People won't be able to cope with this," Mr McKinnon said.

"We're horrified that we the ratepayers are going to have to pay for the bad management of council. They have not shown in any way or form what they can do to help the situation. There's no amount of budgeting that they've improved on, no transparency on what they're going to do to become sustainable."

The TRRRA organised and submitted a petition against the proposal containing thousands of signatures to IPART, and Mr McKinnon said since that didn't work he's unsure whether anything will.

"We're not going to make them [the councillors] change their mind. I don't know what else we can do. The council is certainly not taking any notice of the community. They'll do their own thing," he said.

Residents can have their say on the draft financial documents on Tamworth Regional Council's website.