An Australian council is set to increase its controversial “container tax” just a year after it was introduced.
The City of Yarra in Melbourne charges residents an additional $115 on top of council fees for the privilege of collecting kerbside rubbish bins.
But this figure is expected to rise by an average of another 30 per cent next year, according to draft budget documents for 2024-25, leading some to accuse the Greens-led council of using the tax to avoid the limits imposed on the rates.
Under rates caps set by Local Government Minister Melissa Horne, no council in Victoria can increase its rates by more than 2.75 per cent in a single year.
Independent councilor Stephen Jolly said he was surprised by how much the rubbish tax was going to be increased, especially with the election just a few months away in October.
An Australian council is set to increase its controversial ‘container tax’ just a year after it was introduced (file image)
“By separating the tax from trash, you’re not immediately subject to the rate cap, so they can increase it exponentially,” he said. The Herald of the Sun.
Yarra City Council said the increase was related to costs associated with the introduction of a fourth kerbside collection bin for approximately 44,000 households.
The new 120 liter Lime Green Lid Bin for collecting Food and Garden Organic Materials (FOGO) has been made available to residents this year and the first rubbish collection is scheduled for 1 July.
“The state government requires all councils to introduce a FOGO service by 2030,” a council spokesperson said.
“The council has worked hard to keep the cost of implementing and delivering the FOGO service as low as possible without compromising the quality or efficiency of the service.”
Council to increase rate by 30 per cent in blow for families already struggling with cost of living crisis (file image)
Other councils have also introduced waste taxes, but their increases are small compared to the City of Port Philip, which increased its by 2.7 per cent and the City of Hobons Bay by 7.5 per cent.
More than half of Victoria’s 79 councils are adding “false” costs to their waste taxes to shore up their bottom lines, according to recent Council Watch research.
The funds are then used for other council services such as street sweeping, drain cleaning, graffiti removal and tree maintenance.
Ms Horne published the guidelines in December last year and the Minister said some councils were not using “best practice” for rates and this was “eroding public transparency and trust in local government”.