Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH councillors have ushered in the 2023-24 budget with an alluringly low rise in rates, but not without some grumbles about expenses imposed by the WA government.

Lord mayor Basil Zempilas proudly announced on budget night, Monday July 17, that they were “delivering the lowest rate rise for all major councils across the Perth metropolitan area”, with the rates yield up 2.45 per cent. 

He said the mild rise came despite hefty inflation, and spending on city-stimulation projects like more free parking, marketing to attract visitors and big spends on making streets safer and more inviting.

“This budget is this council’s third budget since our election in October,” Mr Zempilas said, and later added “it’s worth noting we also delivered the lowest rate rise … across the Perth metropolitan area last year, and that followed two previous years of zero per cent rate rises.”

Council elections are in October.

Abnormal

Some of the heftier costs in the budget this year are listed as “abnormal expenses” stemming from contributions to state and federal government projects. This year Perth council will chip in $17.75m, or 6 per cent of its total expenditure, on contributing to the WACA pool and Perth Concert Hall redevelopment. That’s a partial payment on the $25m and $4m total contribution to those projects which are being handled by the state and federal governments.

They council will also have to pay about $18.3m to the state government’s Perth Parking Levy, a fund set up to tax every paid parking bay to help cover public transport projects like CAT buses. 

Perth council has long complained about having to pay ever-increasing amounts into the parking levy despite a lack of state spending on public transport. 

This year the council was vindicated by an auditor general report released in February which found that there was inadequate planning to spend the money, which ballooned from $30m to $190m in the past five years.

 There was also “a lack of consistent consultation with the City of Perth, as required by legislation”, auditor general Caroline Spencer said.

On the back of that report, and faced with yet another year’s budget being eaten into by the parking levy and only a few new electric CAT buses to show for it, Cr Brent Fleeton said “every single ratepayer has been dudded here” because every dollar that’s sent to the state is a dollar they need to collect from ratepayers.

The undertone of an election year was also ringing at Monday night’s budget meeting during a speech by councillor Sandy Angie, who’ll be competing against Mr Zempilas for the lord mayor’s role in October.

Cr Angie said, “[I’m] proud to see that several initiatives that I’ve put forward as notices of motion in the past few years have also been included in this year’s budget, and I’m excited to see them coming to life.

“These are things that are aimed at making our streets, laneways, and neighbourhoods even more people-focused and business-friendly, improving the street-level experience for city workers, residents, visitors and the like.” 

Cr Angie noted projects including the Main Street Refresh, laneway upgrades, lighting projects, and the tech action plan, had “started as a notice of motion I put forward”.

Mr Zempilas appeared to obliquely reference that in his closing speech, saying “everything that this council has achieved in our nearly-three years has been achieved together, and as a team, with support from one another.

“None of what happens as a result of this city’s hard work happens in isolation. It happens because of the team approach which has served us all so well.

by DAVID BELL