Rates for residents are set to increase by 2.50 per cent under the draft budget plan put forward this month by the City Of Ballarat council.
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The increase, which would apply to the budget for the 2019/20 financial year, is the maximum allowed by the Victorian state government.
Rates are set according to value property, as set by the Victorian valuer general. Council rates for the next financial year will be tied to property values of January 1 this year. Property values used to be assessed every two years, but are now assessed annually after a recent change in law came into effect.
Many Ballarat properties have increased substantially in value in the past year. [For full details on how your rate is calculated, see here.]
The fee for waste management is also slated to increase from $339.51 to $363.10, which would represent a 6.9 per cent increase if it is approved.
Green waste meanwhile would go up from $68.23 to $70.30, an increase of 3 per cent.
The agenda also cites new borrowing of $10 million.
The City of Ballarat Council has not applied for permission to increase rates above the cap. Only two councils in Victoria - Warrnambool and Mansfield - have applied to the Essential Services Commission for an increase above the cap.
The cap is slightly more than the previous year's limit of 2.25 per cent.
Glenn Kallio, the council's director of business services, will provide more information on the draft budget at the council meeting later this week.
The Council is then due to release extended details of the draft budget for public submissions within the next week.
These will be open for 28 days from next Monday (May 20) until 17 June 2019.
All written submissions are confidential, but residents can request to put their response at a special meeting of council on Wednesday June 19.
A subsequent special council meeting on June 26 will take place when councillors will consider and adopt the budget for the next financial year.
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