Cairns ratepayers continue to pay some of the lowest rates and utility charges in the state when compared to similar local government areas.
In an annual benchmarking exercise, Cairns Regional Council has assessed itself against 11 other Queensland local government areas with populations of 100,000 people or more.
Benchmarking was carried out across three categories:
- A residential property (excluding strata and flats) paying the minimum rate – this represents 25 per cent of residential properties in the Cairns Regional Council area;
- A residential property (excluding strata and flats) with the median valuation within its own local government area; and
- A strata title property paying the minimum rate – this represents 89 per cent of strata title properties in the Cairns Regional Council area.
Cairns rated the lowest in all three of those categories.
The local government areas included in the benchmarking exercise are Brisbane, Townsville, Mackay, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Redlands, Logan, Moreton Bay, Toowoomba and Fraser Coast.
“To compare this favourably against other large councils across the state, as well as those councils in our region, is interesting,” Mayor Bob Manning said.
“It shows that Cairns ratepayers are getting good value for money rates when compared with similar local government areas.”
Cr Manning said that the 2022/23 Budget set the foundation for shaping the future of the region with a focus on fiscal sustainability, growth and an emphasis on looking after community and natural assets.
“It was a budget framed against a backdrop of inflationary pressures, a tight labour market and an under-pressure construction industry, and the fear of longer-term recessionary impacts,” he said.
“This Council has a longstanding commitment to keeping rate rises as low as possible, while being realistic about the funds needed to maintain service delivery standards and the maintenance of assets.”
The $393 million 2022/23 Budget included a $144.6 million capital works program, which builds on almost $1.4 billion of community infrastructure delivered by Council over the past decade.
See the full Council benchmarking report here.
