Hi Karen
If an On-site Sewer Management (OSSM) line appears on your Rates Notice, you council must be adopting it as a “charge” rather than a “fee”, and if so, it is likely an annual charge via s.501. If adopting as a s.501 charge, it should appear in your Op Plan as part of your Statement of Revenue Policy and also be “made” by Council resolution s.535 (and therefore be included in your making of the Rates report).
It seems that a good few councils are now putting an OSSM annual charge on their rate notice. And as I understand it, this represents a shift from a fee (as per the Fees & Charges) to an annual charge (as per the Statement of Revenue Policy). And despite having a recently implemented s.501 OSSM charge here at Shoalhaven, I’m not fully across how this shift originally derived within the industry (i.e. I believe some councils have been doing this for a good while).
Is this your council’s first year adding an OSSM charge to the Rates notice?
