Shire of Dardanup councillors unanimously vote to increase rates by 4 per cent, rejecting bid to amend rise

Homeowners will be expected to pay about $82 extra in rates after the Dardanup Shire council opted for a 4 per cent rate increase for the next financial year. Shire of Dardanup councillors voted to endorse the recommended rate rise as part of the Shire’s draft budget for the 2022-23 financial year despite plenty of back and forth over alternative options. During last Wednesday’s council meeting, Cr Patricia Perks put forward a motion to amend the rate increase to 4.5 per cent, suggesting the revenue raised from the extra 0.5 per cent could be put into another account to act as emergency funding. “We’re in unprecedented times and I don’t want to set up our community for future problems if something unexpected were to happen,” she said. “By increasing the rates by a extra 0.5 per cent, we would be making sure that our community members don’t lose.” Although the suggestion had support from several other councillors, the motion was ultimately lost with Shire president Mick Bennett making the casting vote against it. Speaking against Cr Perks’ motion, Cr Janice Dow said she was already unhappy with the 4 per cent recommendation and the extra 0.5 per cent would result in backlash from residents. “Residents are struggling and we can’t keep using ratepayers as teller machines,” she said. “I’m really upset about this.” Cr Bennett said while he respected the idea put forth by Cr Perks, the purpose of the extra revenue seemed vague, leaving him uncomfortable in throwing in his support. After another idea to implement continuous improvement strategies to find cost saving measures was also rejected, councillors ultimately voted unanimously for the initial four per cent recommendation. The 4 per cent rate hike was expected to help bring the Shire of Dardanup’s budget into a $128,757 end of year surplus, with more than $14 million expected to be raised from general property rates. It comes after the Shire of Dardanup previously increased rates by 3 per cent last financial year and rates are expected to increase again in the 2023/24 financial year under the council’s long-term financial plan that was also unanimously endorsed.