[Simone Fisher]

Hi,
Just an update. We were contacted by Corina from Service NSW yesterday afternoon. Corina advised that applications will be processed through Service NSW but they don’t yet have an application process in place. She will be contacting bushfire affected Council’s over the next couple of days taking a poll on what their preferred application option is. The two options that she will be putting to Council’s are:

Option 1.
Affected Council’s provide Service NSW with a list of assessments with dwellings that have been identified as being destroyed in the bushfires & the assessments third & fourth instalments. Service NSW will make a total payment to Council’s for this & Council’s will apply to individual assessments. Council’s would advise ratepayers of these payment & refund any credits if/where required.

Option 2.
Ratepayers bring their instalment notices to Service NSW & make application for payment. Payments are remitted to Council on an individual basis or a refund is issued to the ratepayer by Service NSW where the ratepayer can prove that they have already made payment.

She did advise that Option 1 is their preferred option as they would like to avoid ratepayers being further inconvenienced by having to make an application with them.

My concern with option 1 is that some Council’s may have hundreds of affected properties & putting a list together for them may not be easy. Corina advised that she will be contacting Council’s individually for their views & Service NSW will decide on an option based on this feedback.

We also raised our requirement to apply payments to the oldest debt first & if an assessment is in arrears the Service NSW payment could not be applied to instalment 3 & 4. Service NSW will be giving this some consideration & discussion with other affected Council’s.

Hopefully further information will be received from Service NSW shortly.

Thanks,

Simone