Redlands homeowners will continue paying the highest rates and charges in southeast Queensland, after Redland City Council adopted its 2023/24 Budget this week.
A typical residential homeowner in the Redlands will pay $600 more than equivalent Brisbane and Ipswich homeowners for local council and water services in 2023/24.
7/4 vote for Redland City Council Budget
The 2023/24 Budget was passed in a 7/4 vote. Crs Peter Mitchell, Paul Golle, Mark Edwards, Julie Talty, Rowanne McKenzie and Tracey Huges voted for the budget.
The four councillors who voted against adopting the 2023/24 budget were Wendy Boglary, Lance Hewlett, Adelia Berridge and Paul Bishop.
Their opposition centred around plans for major projects in the Council’s Corporate Plan – the $300 million Birkdale project including the proposed whitewater centre, and the $200 million Heinemann Road sports and recreation centre in Mt Cotton.
No new Council Building in this Budget
During his five minutes Cr Mitchell expressed regret that the Budget did not include provision for a new Council building. He noted that Council’s own accommodation is in the corporate plan and said it should be brought forward, not just for staff efficiencies but “as a fantastic vote of confidence in the Cleveland town centre and the improvements that would bring to the public realm”.
Presumably, the other councillors didn’t think that announcing a brand new Council office building was wise, with elections due in less than 12 months.
$500,000 Civic Support Fund
This year’s Redland City Council budget includes $500,000 for a Civic Support Fund.
With local elections due in March 2024 it will be very interesting to see if grants from this fund are accompanied by propaganda photos and stories featuring the mayor and/or division councillors “rapidly” dispensing ratepayers’ funds to community organisations assisting the needy.
Capital Works budget
Redland City Council’s budget statements include a capital expenditure program of $135.7 million. The biggest component of this program is a planned spend of $53.37 million for transport, roads and traffic projects including:
- $40 million to continue duplication of Panorama Drive and Wellington Street between Boundary Road and South Street
- $5.48 million for an upgrade to Double Jump Road, Victoria Point
- $2 million for ‘green sealing’ roads on the southern Moreton Bay islands
The Council also plans to spend $9.92 million on the Birkdale Community Precinct including work to restore Willard’s Farm, and $8.61 million for the continued
redevelopment of the Weinam Creek hub at Redland Bay.
Detail about proposed capital spending in the Redland City Council budget is very superficial. This means it’s impossible for the community to monitor what is being done or not done.
Two councillors (Boglary and Huges) noted in their budget speeches that most years Redland City Council will fail to deliver more than $50-$70 million of capital works.
Cr Bishop drew attention to the lack of transparency about capital budgeting and spending and noted that Brisbane City Council provides much more information to residents and ratepayers.
Pensioners’ rates concession unchanged
The concession on general rates available to homeowners on a full pension will again be $335 per year. Over the past four years, the minumum general rate has increased by 14.8% (from $1031 to $1184) but the pensioner rates concession has not been lifted.
General rates
Local councils impose general rates on property owners based on land values which are determined and published by the State Government’s Valuer-General.
The Valuer-General publishes median values for all residential land in each local government area. The median value is the value that sits in the middle of a range with as many properties valued above it as below it. Median values are used in property market analysis because they are not distorted by a small number of very high value properties.
Our comparison of the rates and charges in each local government area uses their respective median residential land values as the basis for calculating general rates.
To smooth out the effects of large changes in official land values, some local councils levy general rates on the average of land values over multiple years. We use these averaging multipliers where applicable.
Because we are primarily interested in what homeowners have to pay, we select the rate category for property owners who live at their property. Many local councils charge a different general rate for properties that are not occupied by the owner(s).
Discounts for early payment
Most local councils in southeast Queensland offer discounts for prompt payment of rates. These discounts are taken into account when comparing rates and charges in the various local government areas because we assume that most homeowners are sensible and pay their bills on time if a discount is available.
Redlands, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast councils do not offer their ratepayers the financial benefit of any early payment discounts.
Additional charges
As well as imposing general rates, each local council also imposes one or more additional charges to ratepayers.
Redland City Council’s additional charges in 2023/24 will total $237.72, comprising:
- Environmental Charge of $172 per year
- Landfill remediation charge of $59.32 per year
- Redland City SES administration charge of $6.40 per year
Some local councils such as Logan City ($492) and Scenic Rim ($550) collect a higher proportion of annual revenue through additional charges on top of their general rates.
Waste management
Collection of general waste weekly in a red-topped wheelie bin and waste for recycling fortnightly in a yellow-topped wheelie bin is a standard level of service across southeast Queensland. For the purpose of comparison we standardize on use of a 240 litre general waste bin and a 240 litre recycling bin (yellow lid) in each local government area.
Some local councils also offer the option of collecting green and organic waste in a third green-topped bin. Because this is not yet available in all parts of southeast Queensland and is optional in most local government areas, we have not included green bin charges in our comparison.
Water services and sewerage
Some local councils (Redlands, Logan and Gold Coast) provide water supply and waste water services. The other councils have water services provided by a utility company which they jointly control together with other councils:
- UnityWater is owned jointly by Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa councils
- Queensland Urban Utilities is owned jointly by Brisbane, Ipswich, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer councils.
Some water service charges are imposed on a flat rate per day basis and other charges vary according to the volume of water used. For this comparison it is assumed that each property uses 180 kilolitres (kL) per year. This figure is cited by Gold Coast City Council in its budget documents as a basis for year on year comparisons.
State Government bulk water charge
Water service bills include a bulk water charge controlled by the State Government which is a variable charge per kL. Since 2020/21, this charge has been standard across the various local government areas connected to the south east Queensland water grid.
Emergency Management Levy
Local council rates bills include another charge controlled by the State Government which is the Emergency Services Levy. This levy is the same in most urban areas but a lower rate applies in smaller semi-rural communities e.g. Scenic Rim and Somerset.
Redland City Council budget information
More information about the 2023/24 Redland City Council budget is available here.
You can view a video of the Council Budget Meeting.
Our story about last year’s Redland City Council Budget.
Redlands2030 – 29 June 2023
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3 Comments
Thank you for a very instructive overview of our position in Redlands compared to many of our adjacent municipalities/shires.
I do hope that our forthcoming elections will produce some counselors with more common sense than many of this lot have shown. Spending our scarce dollars on a whitewater facility for a utopian dream should not be pursued. The facility near Sydney NSW is sufficient and accessible, the IOC guidelines are not to spend on new facilities that will only serve for the games. We should only spend on infrastructure for all, not for the few.
Thank you. Informative. I’ve been told that the island rates are considerably higher than the mainland rates; for much less services and facilities (like footpaths). Do you know if this is correct?
Congratulations, this is an excellent article. Very informative, factual and all encompassing. There appears to be growing community sentiment that it’s “time for a change”. While the overall planning of the Redland Bay Precinct seems visionary. Further details suggest it is impractical and the future heading towards a chaotic landscape. Also very disappointed with some local council representatives not putting forward debates around, for example, council rates, in an area where there is a high proportion of older residents relative to a vast number of other councils. In summary this article provides an excellent overview. Thank you