Shocked residents are questioning Maribyrnong council’s method for calculating residential rates after receiving bills that have risen up to 25 per cent in a year.
The council has adopted an average 2014-15 residential rate rise of 4.7 per cent, but property revaluations have forced rates on a number of properties to rise well above the average.
Of the 33,000 properties in Maribyrnong, about 13,000 experienced rate rises of less than 4.7 per cent. Yet a number of residents have complained about rises of close to 25 per cent in a single year.
Yarraville resident Trevor Junge said his new rates notice showed his annual rate bill rising by more than $1000, or $20 a week.
He also discovered he is being charged commercial rates on his residential home.
“I got such a shock when I opened my mail – my rate had changed from normal rates to commercial rates,” he said.
“It draws the question of how many other people are in this situation. There are a lot of people who have been shocked.”
Mr Junge said he faced “a mountain of paperwork” to challenge his bill.
“I have to spend all this extra time on top of running my business,” he said.
“We have to make a payment by the end of the month, irrespective of whether they have got it right. I certainly fear for our pensioners and people trying to make ends meet having to pay up to 20 per cent more.”
The Maribyrnong Residents Action Group earlier this year called on the state government to consider amalgamating Maribyrnong with neighbouring councils to cut costs and spread the burden of high residential rates.
Maribyrnong’s 4.7 per cent hike in rates is helping fund a $41 million works program, including $6.8 million for roads and footpaths, $2 million for parks and gardens, and completion of the $12.5 million Braybrook Community Hub and of the $4.7 million Maidstone Children and Family Services Hub.
The 4.7 per cent average rise is the lowest in a decade, down from 6 per cent each year from 2007 to 2010.
Maribyrnong council had not provided a response by time of publication.
