The new thing in town is the SPECIAL RATE SCHEME - whereby councils can levy ratepayers (and therefore businesses or residents) hefty unexpected fees and charges for just about anything - bike paths, roads, drainage, marketing, district promotion - you name it.
Out of the blue, council can simply levy rate payers, whether the ratepayers directly benefit from or want the works or not.
Firstly, council's works programs should come from rates, we all pay rates and seem to get precious little for them.
Secondly, it is undemocratic to force these fees on ratepayers and small businesses for works they do not want and perceive no benefit from.
Thirdly, if councils have enough of ratepayer's funds to rebuild their own lavish headquarters, how can they possible justify upping our rates by stealth like this?
Finally, these Special Rates Schemes are more and more prevalent. Raising money like this could prove as addicitive as pokies funds for councils. Having experienced TWO such rates schemes levied on us in the past TWO months, we believe they will kill off the businesses they should be serving.
There are ways to fight it, but it is difficult and time consuming.
Learn more here:
http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/localgovernment/guide-to-local-government/planning-and-finance/special-rates-and-charges
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