A CITIZENS’ Jury has spent two days taking a deep dive into Ararat Rural City Council’s rates strategy.
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The jury was provided with a report from the Rating Strategy Advisory Group. who has been meeting since December.
The advisory group and jury marks a new way for the council to engage with residents and ratepayers on important topics.
Chief executive Allan Bawden asked the jury to consider the report and answer, ‘which rating option from the Rating Strategy Advisory Group is the most fair and equitable for Ararat?’.
They were further asked, ‘Could you draw on different aspects of each to reach a model which earns greater support?’
While jurors had a specific scope of work, the topic of council’s budget was at the front of mind.
A general concern was members felt the overall rate burden for all ratepayers was too high. The final report made recommendations to both the council and the state government.
Jury members said there has been some challenges to arriving at their decisions due to some unknowns going forward. These include future expected valuations and possible changes to the Local Government Act.
“We would like to see council undertake an external audit into the fiscal health to try to extract cost savings and increase efficiencies of operations with a view to lowering the overall rates burden, to more evenly distribute the rates,” jury member Scott Norman said.
Jury member Rick Westgarth said: “Although at times the process was frustrating and the time constraints were challenging, it was a great process to be a part of. It was also very positive to see that council is so interested to engage the residents through this process.
“I think it was really encouraging how so many people came together with a mutual goal of trying to find some solutions to such a complex issue”.
Acting mayor Gwenda Allgood said she admired the people who put their hand up for the jury,
“It’s a very big task and big learning curve,” she said.
Cr Allgood also said she was proud to see all six councillors in attendance to hear the feedback in person.
Twenty-five people were selected for the jury, at random, after registering to participate.
