Millers Forest farmers Selby and Gloria Green view a proposed rate increase as just another example of increased living costs when their income hasn’t changed.
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Maitland City Council has proposed annual increases of 6.52 per cent over seven years for high-intensity farmland.
It’s a little less than the 8.94 per cent council proposed for residential ratepayers but Maitland farmers already pay among the highest land rates in the Hunter.
“We’re on a fixed income trying to make a living from farming,” Mrs Green said.
“It does worry me [but] I don’t want to see the city go downhill either.”
Cattle forms a big part of their income but liveweight prices – what butchers pay for steers and heifers - haven’t improved for nearly 30 years.
Meanwhile the cost of living has grown.
“What we’re being paid for our cattle is still the same as 1985, ’86, and ’87,” she said.
“Our costs are going up from electricity to water and everything else.”
Council must notify the independent pricing and regulatory tribunal this week if it intends to apply for a special rate variation that would deliver council a $117 million boost to increase spending in key areas including roads.
The final application, however, is not due until February 24 when council must determine if it wishes to carry through with the proposed increases or reduce them.
If approved, urban land rates would increase 82 per cent over the seven years.
Farm rates, however, will come under extra scrutiny thanks to the findings of the Western Research Institute report.
The report found that farm-based businesses may be more substantially impacted by the variation.
When council meets tonight it is expected to agree to the basis for rate increase, so staff can notify IPART, but include a clause to review farm rates.
Mrs Green said she sympathised with council’s position but it didn’t change the cost of living.
“In some ways we do get value for our rates but people living in town would use the libraries or pools more,” she said.
“I’ve lived here for 40-odd years and I’ve never been to Maitland pool and that’s my choice. I think it has to come back to user pays, whether it’s at the art gallery or bike tracks, it might only be a gold coin.”
