Up for fair fight

By Bridget Brady
CASEY retirement village residents say their campaign over the level of council rates is a fight for fairness.
Residents from 11 retirement villages in the City of Casey will join forces next Thursday when they meet councillors and council candidates to express their concern at the rates they pay in their villages.
A committee of residents said their homes had been unfairly valued and therefore their rates were too high.
About 300 people were expected to attend the meeting.
Chairman of the committee and Botanic Gardens Retirement Village resident Les Smith said the rates levels had been a problem for retirement village residents for more than 10 years.
“This is the first time these villages have come together like this,” Mr Smith said.
“It just shows how important this is to everybody.”
The residents’ weekly service fees paid for maintenance in the villages, including maintaining road surfaces, street lighting and speed signs, and cleaning gutters and drains, he said.
“The only cost to council is removing rubbish weekly and hard waste yearly,” he said.
“The council does nothing within the village but collect the rates. Where is the justice in this? For elderly people it’s just not fair.”
Blue Hills Residents’ Association president Margaret McLean said the purpose of next week’s meeting was “not about poking sticks at anyone”.
“All we want is for them (the council) to recognise that it’s fair and just,” Mrs McLean said.
Violet Meddicks from Blue Hills Residences in Cranbourne said her rates were “getting out of control” and had doubled during the past three or four years.
Mr Smith said he hoped the newly elected council would take up the cause and support retirement village residents.
“We don’t want people to get the wrong message. This is not about pensioner rate concession. The focus is entirely on retirement villages,” said Mr. Smith.
Mr Smith said some Melbourne councils provided a discounted rates system for retirement village residents.
But City of Casey manager of property, rates and valuations Peter Gillieron said Casey residents continued to pay lower rates compared with surrounding councils.
General manager of Frankston City Council Mark Brady said the Frankston council applied a 25 per cent differential rate reduction to residents in all retirement villages.
Mr Smith said he encouraged retirement village residents to attend the meeting and expected representation from all villages in Casey.
“It is the year of the seniors and I think we’ve waited long enough,” Mrs McLean said.
The meeting will be held at the Balla Balla Centre next Thursday at 11am.
The centre is located next to the Cranbourne Library at 65 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne East.