Rate discussions

Councillor Sally Harding’s push for more transparency around the administration of funds raised by separate rates applied to parts of Mt Barker and Hahndorf seems to be a reasonable and sensible idea.

Businesses and land owners in the main street areas of those towns are forced to pay more in rates than property owners in other parts of the towns and almost $250,000 was raised through the separate rates across both towns in the last financial year.

The separate rate aims to raise revenue, which is administered by the Hahndorf Business Traders Association and Business Mt Barker, respectively, in order to market and fund improvements to those two areas.

While there’s no reason to think the groups that administer the funds are spending them irresponsibly, it does seem wise to keep transparent records of where the money ends up and the benefits or outcomes that have been achieved through the fund.

Creating a formal policy framework around the separate rate schemes can only serve to improve them and potentially allow residents to advocate more affectively for how the funding should be allocated.

It is important that the council works with the groups to achieve this to prevent adding significant administrative burden.

However, as Councillor Jessica Szilassy pointed out, community organisations that are trying to secure grants from the council are required to produce certain documentation to support their proposals and must show how the money will be spent.
It is not unreasonable, therefore, to expect that the groups which administer the separate rate revenue do the same.

Given the significant amount of money raised through the separate rates, it is only fair that some level of scrutiny is applied.