Just a further comment regarding this, the mandatory rebate at this stage is set in concrete by legislation so a change to the rebate would require legislative change.
What isn’t set in concrete is the funding of the rebate. Since 1993 (yes I was doing this stuff then) the Council has funded 45% of the mandatory rebate with the State contributing 55% (with some Federal assistance). Prior to this it was 50/50 between Council & State.
With the Federal budget, the Federal contribution has been withdrawn which means that either the State has to find additional monies from within it’s budget to meet the 5% shortfall or the funding model will change.
From discussions I have had it has been suggested that the funding model will revert to the former model ie 50/50.
I appreciate it is late in the budget process but I believe Councils should be looking at worst case scenario for their budgets.
Yes this will have a bigger impact on Councils which have a high ratio of pensioners in that the rebate contribution from the State will be reduced & the Council will need to find additional monies to fund their proportion of the rebate.
JT
