[Cherie Muir]

Hi Robert
We have no pay early incentives at Shoalhaven.
Wollongong did way back (prior to GFC when interest rates were attractive).It was relatively successful although required layers of rigour, scrutiny and transparency, e.g. permit from gaming authority (winner was drawn from those that had paid in full by 31 August), procurement relationship with suppliers (of the giveaways), and the internal process of extracting eligible ratepayers had to be signed off (validated as sound) by an external auditor. Staff were excluded (I think … a long time ago), etc.
Regards
Cherie

p.s. the prize at Gong was a car. Or cars (I think it may have occurred two years in a row).

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Cherie Muir.

[Cherie Muir]

Hi Meryl
I believe many of us have received the same request recently and very few councils would have a designated form for this.
If they have identified properties that they believe should qualify for a s.600 rebate then you could ask them to apply in writing to your council as per s.600(5). (That’s what we did!).

[Cherie Muir]

Hi there Daryl
Many thanks for sharing your thinking. I get your thinking, and yes – life tenancy fits in S.575 well.
I too have been weary of S.577 over the years (though my caution was associated with the necessity of the ‘order’ … I had never got so far as to realise the subsidy implication). I think there may be some confusion out there around S.577.
The OLG Debt Guidelines from 2018 promote it as a hardship option and maybe this is when it showed up in many councils’ policies.
Thanks again
Regards,
Cherie.

[Cherie Muir]

Hey Matthew

Yep. If the income is above your permissible, you’d need a SRV special rate or not. If a council didn’t want to do a SRV they’d need to reduce other rates to make room for the special rate within their permissible pie.

No. Having a minimum rate already in place for impacted properties should not prevent the application of a special rate, but have a think about how you are going to structure the special rate from a simplicity point of view e.g. straight ad valorem, or with base, or with minimum. I’m pretty sure there are limitations on on the maximum base amount with special rates … $2? comes to mind, but if you end up going for SRV you could get approval for a higher base that way.

Take a look pg 32-34 of Revenue Raising Manual.

Good luck with it, Cherie.

[Cherie Muir]

Randwick Absolutely (at least one staffer) and ‘Possibly’ for a few more (depending on method of delivery/cost). A well needed initiative NSWRP, thanks.

[Cherie Muir]

Hi Danielle

There’s companies out there like IBIS (which you might already have) that provide good modelling tools that allow for the modelling of quick and variable scenarios that help a council to demonstrate, analyse, and arrive at new rating structure/s. Of course any modelling starts with its assumptions about equity, distribution of costs, legislative constraints, etc.

And yes, Randwick has used IBIS in the past to look at various modelling scenarios (and we still use the IBIS product now). We also worked with an economist back in 2016 ahead of council mergers to add weight (e.g. principles of taxation) to what our modelling was telling us. There are some good economist firms out there that know local government.

Do you already have a consultant in mind Danielle? (I’d love to know more if so).

Hope this info. is helpful. Feel free to give me a call. 0417 410 662.

[Cherie Muir]

Hi all

In regard to questions 1-3 about costs in the Issues Paper, has your council quantified and modelled these costs explicitly or will your council take a generic approach to these questions for the purposes of the submission?

1. What council costs increase as a result of population growth? How much do these costs increase with additional population growth?
2. How do council costs change with different types of population growth?
3. What costs of population growth are not currently funded through the rate peg or developer contributions? How are they currently recovered?

TIA,

Regards
Cherie

[Cherie Muir]

BTW … I’m already looking at Community Housing Limited v Clarence Valley 2014

[Cherie Muir]

Hey Emma …

My memory a bit sketchy as it was a long time ago and we had a car up for grabs in enticing ratepayers to pay their rates in full (before the GFC). Sorry not so much about T’s & C’s but more a reflection of some of the unique elements below:

I recall having to have a permit for the competition (or registration or whatever it is called) from Dept of Gaming and Racing.

I also recall having to have our ‘process’ externally validated way ahead of the draw, i.e. our process and procedure of how we would pull reports from our system to identify ratepayers who met our T’s & C’s was audited/examined to prove that that our process was sound (and not open to fraud).

And was there something about staff not being able to enter the draw? Yes, Council staff may have been excluded.

Then on the evening of the draw that same scrutineer was present to oversee the draw (the head of our external auditors at that time I think).

Technology has changed since my experience. And you’re talking about an iPad (and not a car), which makes me wonder if the prize scale would influence the process.

Tit bits from my memory 🙂 good luck with it Emma.

[Cherie Muir]

Hey Lyndal … I hope you are well.

I guess you’re working with a copy of the Guideline from (2007?) for this?

1. Can’t really comment on this one not knowing your area … if you are not going to charge those properties where the ‘service is available’ then it would be best to put some clear policy/guideline around this.

2. MDAF properties – we charge based on the MDAF split, i.e. if the Business % is dominant then we charge the property as if it is a business property and vice versa for dominant Residential.

3. Yes, it is my understanding you can only charge 1 x $25 in the case of a non-strata residential flat building.

[Cherie Muir]

Hey Andrea
Randwick does same as Tamworth, Blacktown and Berrigan.
Re the annual pensioner subsidy claim though … whether you get your September validation in ahead of preparing your claim might depend on when you’re having your audit for your annual statements.
It has been our experience past year or so that our auditors come in early to do our Statements (late July/early August) they tend to look for our our pensioner subsidy as they finish audit (i.e. early than we have prepared the claim in the past).
Regards
Cherie

[Cherie Muir]

Hi Emma

Yes, there’s been a recent name change to Services Australia.
It must have occurred just after the latest forms were released by the OLG.

They are known as Services Australia now.

That part of the consent script for us now reads:

I _______________________ authorise:

– Council to use Centrelink Confirmation eServices to perform a Centrelink/DVA enquiry of my Centrelink or Department of Veterans’ Affairs customer details and concession card status to enable Council to determine if I qualify for a rebate.
– Services Australia (the agency) to provide the results of that enquiry to Council.

Regards
Cherie

[Cherie Muir]

Randwick is in the same position as Walcha Leonie. I’ve briefly thought about this gap period and the impact on 603’s but haven’t come up with a plan of attack yet. I’ll let you know what we come up with (short of asking applicants to wait where possible) soon.

Regards
Cherie

[Cherie Muir]

Hey Andrea, good pick up 🙂
We recently had our online form approved for use by Centrelink (based on the new OLG forms) and yes, the only change they had us make was their name change.
Cherie

[Cherie Muir]

Hi there
Randwick took up the one month delay for Op Plan and Budget planning, so we were headed for a 30 September 1st Instalment in accordance with the original advice and recent change to the Regulation. Our Op Plan/Budget will not be on exhibition until next week so we won’t have Rates on our system until the last couple days in July.
We will try to get the Rate notice issued as early as possible in August.

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