More than 13,000 Hume City ratepayers are in arrears and have until 30 November to avoid paying 10% interest on their late payments.
The council, just weeks after raising general rates, faces a $40m shortfall in overdue rates payments as at 30 June 2024. According to the council’s 2024/25 budget, it expects to collect $260m in rates this year. It bills for household waste collection separately.
The trend for unpaid rates is up, with Cllr Sam Misho saying at a council meeting on Monday 26 August the figure for 2024/25 could rise to $80m.
“This will put a lot of pressure on council and what it will do in terms of its operational capacity, so obviously we are trying to work with a lot of rate payers trying to collect the money at the moment,” said Cllr Misho.
“I just think that we have to be careful as to how we manage this. During covid most of the states in Australia provided a lot of stimulus packages. Some of the states now are almost bankrupt.
“I’m not trying to criticise any of the efforts that were done because it was an extraordinary circumstance we went through, but I think it’s very important for council to collect that money in the best possible way, that will not impact on our rate payers.”
While 3,000 rate payers have applied to have interest waived, around 10,000 are still to apply.
Cllr Trevor Dance, who voted against general rate rises in June said: “Council should be like business and not just say ‘hey put the rates up to get money to solve our problem’.
“That’s what happened with Broadmeadows, it went broke all those years ago, they were actually financially gone and a lot of hard work had be done.
“We should looking at it ourselves to see where we can save money that’s spent within our council that does nothing at all to help our residents. That’s what a good council will be doing in the future.”
Home owners and businesses needing help with general rates payments should contact Hume City Council’s hardship support service or call 92052200.
