Brisbane rates will rise if state's developer concessions go ahead: council   

Date
    February 19, 2014


Ratepayers will be charged up to $409 extra a year to cover planned state government concessions for developers, according to Queensland's peak local government body.      

Premier Campbell Newman last year flagged significant concessions to infrastructure levies in order to boost construction levels across the state.

Ratepayers across the state, the Local Government Association of Queensland has warned, would then be left to cover a significant revenue shortfall in council budgets.

On Tuesday, Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk joined 96 per cent of Queensland local governments in opposing the changes.


However, under questioning from Opposition Leader Milton Dick at Tuesday's Brisbane City Council meeting, he stopped short of criticising his mayoral predecessor, Mr Newman, over the plan.

"The position of this administration is very clear ... we don't want to see any changes made to infrastructure charges, it would have a direct impact on the revenue of this council," he said.

Cr Dick accused the former Brisbane lord mayor of turning his back on local government and urged Cr Quirk to "stand up for the ratepayers of this city".

"Campbell Newman has forgotten where he has come from," he said.      

"They know they are going to hurt local government, that it will have a huge impact on the bottom line.

"It's disappointing this council's leadership will not publicly speak out and denounce these changes.

"There is an eerie silence."

Cr Quirk said the state's councils were almost unanimous in their opposition to the proposal.

"The last thing councils across Queensland want to see occur is a decline in the infrastructure spend and this is something we stand as one about," he said.

The proposed changes would leave ratepayers to shoulder a significant financial burden, the council chairwoman and Local Government Association of Queensland president Margaret de Wit said last week.

"We can't shoulder any more of the funding burden without hurting our ratepayers, reducing our capacity to fund other infrastructure ... or some measure of all of these outcomes," she said.

Cr de Wit said cuts made by the previous Labor state government had cumulatively cost councils $800 million each year.

"We can't bleed any more revenue," she said.

Cr Dick said any such move would be a boon for developers.

"Developers are set for a windfall," he said.

"This council should take a strong and proactive stance, like other mayors and councillors have."

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-rates-will-rise-if-states-developer-concessions-go-ahead-council-20140218-32yng.html#ixzz2tiAmBBfZ

Corrupt practices with property developers tainted Labor in NSW.
It looks like the Queensland LNP are going down the same path.

Property developers have too much influence over government policy.