The Ratepayers Association of Victoria says it knows people are angry about councils asking for exemptions from the new rate cap but is now looking for the data to back it up.
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Association president Jack Davis said they recently launched an online survey and forum to find out exactly how people feel about rate-capping and other council issues.
“We are aware that the public’s not very happy about local government, but the idea is to get some statistics,” he said.
The City of Ballarat is one 10 councils to apply an exemption from the cap, looking for an increase of 3.7 per cent next financial year instead of 2.5 per cent.
Mr Davis said the assertion councils would have to cut services because they could not raise rates as fast as they had planned was inaccurate.
“I don’t see any justification for it. The (property) evaluations are happening this year, so the council evaluation will be worth more than the planned rate rises,” he said.
“Why would you want another increase on top of that?”
The forum and survey can be found at oursay.org/community/rateyourcouncil.