Business rate hike flagged

MILDURA business owners face a 10 per cent hike in their rates if Rural City of Mildura councillors approve a revenue and rating plan to be considered at this week’s regular meeting.

The plan proposes increasing the amount businesses contribute to the overall rating revenue stream from 130 per cent to 140 per cent on the basis that the business category “has a greater capacity to pay and contribute to the overall rate burden”.

Under the draft plan, business owners face an average 10.5 per cent increase, while rates for the residential property owners would increase by 2.9 per cent, or an average of about $50 a year.

Rates for farming properties would decrease by a mean 3.8 per cent with dryland farmers the most significant beneficiaries (-5.8 per cent) compared to irrigated properties (-1.8 per cent).

Under the Victorian Government’s Fair Go Rates system, overall rates remain capped for 2025-26 at 3 per cent — higher than the 2.75 per cent in the current financial year, but lower than the 3.5 per cent in 2023-24.

Council engaged an economic consultancy firm to review the revenue and rating plan and which provided four options for council consideration.

The preferred option — to increase the rate burden on the business category to 140 per cent and leave other categories with the same rate burden — would reduce the burden on residential households, acknowledging that the average rate is a high percentage of the median household income.

In a report to be tabled at Thursday’s monthly meeting of councillors, corporate performance general manager Kate Henschke said a further option to increase the business burden rate to 150 per cent would provide further relief to the residential sector, but the impact on business properties was considered too high.

She said that on balance, the preferred option would provide a “fair and equitable outcome”, providing relief to residential and farmland categories, while placing an increased burden on the business category where the burden, as a percentage of the gross operating surplus of the sector, is less compared to other similar councils.

The review also recommended removing the optional lump sum payment of rates due each February, instead placing all ratepayers on four rate instalment payments annually.

The draft revenue and rating plan 2025-29 would see median residential rates rise from $1650 to $1698, business rates would increase from $2330 to $2561, while the median farmland rate would decrease from $2994 to $2888.

Council expects about 1100 business properties to experience a rate increase of up to $200, a similar amount will face a jump of between $200 and $1000, while 246 will experience a general rate increase of more than $1000.

Council received 63 responses to the proposed plan in support of further reducing the burden on dryland farming from 90 per cent of the general rate to 75 per cent, while also increasing the business rate from 130 per cent to 140 per cent with the reduced burden on dryland farming defrayed onto residential, business and irrigated farming.

The revenue and rating plan is required to be adopted every four years following a council election.