Mildura Rural City Council residents are being asked to provide feedback on proposed changes to Council’s Revenue and Rating plan, which is aimed at ensuring rates are collected as fairly and equitably as possible across the community.
Council engaged industry experts, the AEC Group, to conduct an independent review of the organisation’s rating structure to determine if changes were required.
Following an exhaustive amount of research, including benchmarking with other Local Government areas and looking at four possible scenarios, the AEC Group recommended one change to the current plan – increasing the business differential rate by 10%.
This would result in the following differential rates for the three land categories:
Residential: 100% (no change)
Farming: 90% (no change)
Business: 140% (10% increase)
Under the current Revenue and Rating Plan (before the review), residential properties contribute 60.8% of general rates, farming properties 20.3% and business properties 18.9%.
Mayor Cr Helen Healy said that benchmarking as part of the review process showed that the business differential for the Mildura Local Government area would be still well below some municipalities.
Examples include Bendigo at 185% and Shepparton at 205%, compared to Mildura’s 140%.
The community can view the AEC report and provide their feedback at https://yoursay.mildura.vic.gov.au/RatingPlan25-29 , by emailing mrcc@mildura.vic.gov.au or by post at PO Box 105 Mildura, Victoria, 3502.
Feedback can be provide until 28 March 2025.
