Rates review to go public

CASEY’s Community Rate Review Committee report is set to go public.
The document will soon be made available to all Casey residents following a close vote at Tuesday’s council meeting.
In a close vote, councillors opted to have the document made available, but some confidential information will be excluded.
The document will be made available at all council customer service centres for people to comment on. The report will then go before the council after 5 September.
The chairperson and one other representative from the Community Rate Review Committee will brief councillors and council officers on their report by the end of August.
Councillor Colin Butler was behind the push at Tuesday’s council meeting for the document to go public.
He said a great deal of research had gone into the report and urged all councillors to read it and learn more about other councils’ rating systems.
Cr Butler said the report was the most significant report ever prepared during the time of the current council.
He said it showed that Casey was the only one of the 12 Victorian councils measured that was charging a flat rate instead of a differential rating system.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford spoke against the motion and said this was not an issue that should be rushed, as it would affect residents for many years to come.
He said the rate review committee should instead give a presentation to councillors, followed by a presentation from qualified officers, and then seek public comment.