BASS Coast Council has been put on notice that collections for the Emergency Services Volunteer Fund (ESVF) will push up rates by $5.52 million or 53 per cent across the shire.
The state-imposed levy will be passed on to Bass Coast homeowners, property investors and farmers through their next rates bill.
“My blood boils on this,” said Bass Coast Councillor Meg Edwards.
“Over $16 million out of our local economy is the direct impact of this tax, directly targeted at hurting our farmers most, not calculated on income, nor equity but on the rateable value of a property, with no full exemptions being offered.
“It is centralised control by the State Government with zero consultation, zero listening.”
“To hide their hideous tax through council collection rather than doing their own dirty work is a cowardly act,” said Cr Edwards.
“They are literally ripping the food out of farming families’ mouths to buy votes in the city.
“It is salt into the wounds of those who sit at the end of early mornings and long days at farming tables.
“It’s about whether government should be in these spaces at all. Tax less, do less, get out of people’s way.
“It is unfair, it is unjust, and we need to continue to advocate for it to be abolished.”
ESFV fees are anticipated to be significantly higher than the current Fire Services Protection Levy (FSPL), particularly for Bass Coast farmers and will be calculated by applying a fixed charge that varies by property type and a variable charge based on property value.
The State Government will require Council to collect the ESFV as it currently does with the FSPL by including a charge on all annual rate notices and quarterly rate instalments.
Council will be required to pass on collections including any that have been recovered following debt recovery action on a quarterly basis to the State Government.
Cr Jan Thompson predicted rates could go up by 150 per cent for farmers.
“A lot of CFA volunteers in the country are farmers and we are taxing them to do something they already do for free,” said Cr Thompson.
“I don’t call it a levy, it’s an actual tax.”
The ESVF has attracted significant criticism and concern from local government, farmers and peak bodies such as the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
This has resulted in the State Government agreeing to a reduction in the variable rate for primary producers from 83 cents per $1000 Capital Improved Value (CIV) to 71.8 cents per $1000 CIV.
The State Government will also legislate to guarantee that 95 per cent of VICSES and CFA funding and 90 per cent of Fire Rescue Victoria’s annual funding will come from the ESVF.
According to the State Government, the legislation will ensure every single dollar collected from the levy will be spent on emergency services.
The government has also committed to boost transparency by reporting annually how much money has been collected by the ESVF and how that money will be spent, and to work on an implementation package for local councils including funding for the MAV.
Partial rebates will be provided for farmers eligible for infrastructure grants in the Government’s most recent drought support package which extends to Bass Coast and South Gippsland.
“Farmers are expected to reach out for help from the same hand that hurts them,” said Cr Edwards.
Levy collections in Bass Coast will increase from $10.56 million to $16.08 million annually, representing a $5.52 million (53 per cent) increase.
Bass Coast farmers will pay an estimated $0.955 million more in their rates equating to $956 per farm or 50 per cent more than the state-wide average of $600.
Appalled by the levy Cr Tim O’Brien said more small business farmers would be swallowed up by larger agribusinesses.
“As costs rise, only the very large will survive. It changes schools, it changes communities,” said Cr O’Brien.
“One less family, one less teacher in the school, it really is a thoughtless impost.”
The State has agreed to provide CFA and SES volunteers with an exemption from having to pay the levy and has also agreed, following representations from local government, to manage the process for providing rebates to these volunteers.
The proposed Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) introduces several new administrative responsibilities for councils despite being a State-imposed levy over which councils have no control.
Councils will be required to reformat rate notices, process quarterly remittances to the state and manage an expected surge in community enquiries, confusion, and complaints despite having no authority to amend or explain the levy structure itself.
While the state has agreed to administer exemptions for active emergency services volunteers and life members the local process of identifying and verifying eligible properties remains complex and resource-intensive for councils.
To date there has been no information on how much of the additional $5.52 million collected locally will be returned to the Bass Coast Shire in the form of funding for emergency services, volunteer support, or infrastructure.
Cr Edwards said it was very clear the State Government was not listening to country Victorians and the stories she had been hearing from people firsthand were absolutely heartbreaking.
“This a callous act by a cold and cruel government, and we need to stand against it,” said Cr Edwards.
According to Bass Coast Council the role of local government as a state tax collector is inefficient, burdensome and reputationally risky.