A woman struggling to make ends meet says Maitland City Council’s new Hardship and Debt Recovery Policy Framework will not do enough to ease financial pressure on low income earners in the wake of a possible seven-year-rate rise.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors will discuss the framework at tomorrow’s ordinary meeting after a staff report recommended the new framework be adopted.
A debt recovery policy, hardship policy and pensioner concession policy make up the new framework.
Among the provisions, it includes $250 rebates for eligible pensioners to help with rates and other council costs.
Non-pensioners will have their cases heard by a Payment Assistance Panel, made up of council staff, to determine whether they qualify for help.
People deemed to be suffering financial hardship would be eligible for payment plans and deadline extensions, not reduced rates or charges.
Metford resident Karen Graham said low income earners who did not receive an old-age pension should also be eligible for a rebate.
Ms Graham, a single mother who works part time and is studying law at university, said extra time to pay rates did not ease the financial burden, but would give her more time to find money she did not have.
“It just prolongs the debt and it snowballs,” she said.
“There should be criteria for people with a low income healthcare card to be eligible for that $250 rebate, even if it’s not the full amount, give us something.”
Cr Philip Penfold said it was difficult to see how council could consider individual household incomes before determining how much to charge them in rates.
Cr Penfold said the new framework gave more flexibility to residents who were financially struggling.
“I think we were quite harsh in the past, in my opinion,” he said. “In my previous term I said our actions in following up debt were sometimes harsher than electricity companies. Flexibility is a step in the right direction.
“We don’t want aged pensioners to have to leave their houses because they can’t afford rates.”
Council received only one submission while the framework was open for public comment earlier this year.
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal is considering an application for council to lift rates by an average of 7.25 per cent annually for the next seven years. A decision is expected in June.
