Rates rise in Tenterfield

Tenterfield Shire residents will pay an average of $10 to $12 per year extra in general rates.
The Tenterfield Shire Council resolved at last week’s meeting to increase their general rates by 2.8 per cent for the 2011/2012 financial year.
General manager Jim Gossage said, although this rate rise was slightly more than last year’s 2.6 per cent, he felt that residents would be happy with the outcome.
“Our costs are going up much more than that. We’ve tried to become more efficient so we can do more capital works,” Mr Gossage said.
“We’re doing $7 million of capital works across the organisation,” he said.
“There’s a lot more we could do to meet people’s needs.”
Charges for waste will remain the same but ratepayers will see a three per cent rise in water and sewerage charges, which amounts to an increase of $22 a year for the normal charge.
Mr Gossage said the normal charge for water and sewerage has increased from $738 to $760, with the water availability charge increasing from $334 to $344.
He said the council was able to budget for a small surplus of about $500 in the $23 million budget.