Maribyrnong’s mayor has been questioned over his comments that the council would not waive rates because a ratepayer could win $20 million TattsLotto the next day.
Mayor Michael Clarke has publicly said rate waivers could not be granted because a person’s circumstances could change overnight.
“Today, I might be in a state of financial hardship,” he has said.
“Thursday night, I find that I’ve just won TattsLotto.
“However, on Wednesday afternoon council waived my rates.
“So, now I don’t have to pay my rates and I’m in receipt of some 20 million dollars.”
Maribyrnong Residents and Ratepayers Group’s Arthur Bregiannis, during public question time at last week’s council meeting, said the chance of winning Tattslotto was “one in 8,845,060”.
He said Cr Clarke at an earlier meeting had said the council “do not do waivers but in the same breath said that the council is sensitive and responsive to hardship applications”.
“A response was also made at an earlier meeting that council actually shows compassion by deferring rates,” Mr Bregiannis said.
“With the ombudsman’s report that came out, which showed that banks and utility companies demonstrated more compassion than Victorian council hardship practices have across the state, how can council reconcile this claim of showing compassion when it could show true empathy and exercise an option in the Local Government Act to waive even part of one’s rates for financial hardship individuals instead of compounding the rates to the following year, creating a bigger problem?”
Cr Clarke said “the proposition of banks and utilities demonstrating compassion” was “almost an oxymoron to some of us”.
“We will not waive rates,” he said.
“If we waive rates it means that your neighbour, Mr Bregiannis, is going to have their rate burden increased.”
After the meeting, Cr Clarke told Star Weekly his Tattslotto comment was not to be taken literally.
“What I would say to Mr Bregiannis is, please don’t confuse the analogy with the overall intent of the point, which is a person’s circumstances can and do change and what we’re saying is, look, we will listen to your hardship concerns and we will respond accordingly.
“We are far from insensitive but we are not going to completely waive rates. That doesn’t fly.”
