Council
12 November, 2025
Councillors Reject Special Rate Variation
Yass Valley Council faces the prospect of having to borrow money “to keep the lights on” after councillors voted against a recommendation to seek community feedback on a Special Rates Variation (SRV).
Yass Valley Council faces the prospect of having to borrow money “to keep the lights on” after councillors voted against a recommendation to seek community feedback on a Special Rates Variation (SRV).
The decision means council will need to cut General Fund costs by around $3.5 million per annum – which is likely to result in a significant reduction in the level of services currently being provided.
Yass Valley Council general manager Gayleen Burley said ‘liveability’ services such as pools, libraries, parks and sports fields would “bear the brunt”.
Staff had recommended that council seek community feedback on three SRV options including a one-year SRV with a 40 per cent increase, a two-year SRV with a cumulative increase of 56.25 per cent or a three-year SRV with a cumulative increase of 58.70 per cent.
However councillors said they were not prepared to burden ratepayers with an SRV of any kind and instead have asked council’s executive team to report back to the March 2026 meeting identifying further efficiencies.
It will only pursue an SRV as a last resort.
A staff report prepared for an extraordinary meeting of council today (Thursday) stated that council would be unable to fund the delivery of current services and maintain infrastructure without increasing rates through an SRV.
“This means that council would need to cut General Fund costs by around $3.5 million per annum, which would likely require significant reductions in the services currently being delivered,” the report stated.
Councillors were told that the proposed SRV would enable council to deliver services and maintain assets to the community while ensuring financial sustainability in the long-term.
However councillors said they were uncomfortable pursuing an SRV and raised concerns about engaging with the community in the lead up to Christmas.
Cr David Carter said an SRV would impact “dramatically” on the region’s most vulnerable – particularly pensioners – and suggested that council look elsewhere for savings.
“I’m not necessarily convinced that we have pulled every lever,” he said.
Council is facing significant financial sustainability issues with its operating deficit expected to grow to $6 million by 2027-28. Its financial performance is currently being monitored by the Office of Local Government (OLG).
Council has already taken a number of steps to improve its financial position and in August this year adopted a Financial Sustainability Roadmap 2025-2029.
The decision not to proceed with Stage 2 of the Crago Mill development was one of the actions arising out of the Roadmap.
Staff have argued that Yass Valley Council is not alone in its financial position with 76 per cent of NSW councils having applied for an SRV since 2011
Some councils have applied for multiple SRVs during that time.
Ms Burley said councils, on average, apply for an SRV every 10 years.
She said cost-shifting on its own added approximately $120 per annum to the average rates notice.
Staff say the annual ‘rate peg’ set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) fails to take into account State and Federal Government cost shifting, the need to adjust service levels to meet community expectations or the need to maintain assets at their current condition.
Ms Burley said council was already eating into its reserves and would have no internal reserves left by 2027-28.
“We will be borrowing to keep the lights on,” she said.
Mayor Jasmin Jones was the only councillor to argue in favour of an SRV.
She said she would prefer to have the hard conversation with ratepayers now rather than tell them further down the track that the pools won’t be opening or the roads won’t be fixed.
Cr Jones said council’s executive had already done all the hard work and councillors “have an obligation to build on their work and not to pull the rug out from underneath them”.
“We were told (by the OLG) to pull all the levers and we are pulling all the levers,” she said.
Cr Jones said she didn’t want to break faith with the business community – particularly the region’s tourism operators.
She said it would be difficult to showcase the region without a business information centre, a magazine or an online platform.
Cr Jones said council needed to be brave and “take the hard step” given rate pegging restrictions.
“We can’t do it on the budget we have,” she said.
Cr Fleur Flannery said she couldn’t support an SRV.
She said council had already made a lot of changes and “we don’t know how those change will play out”.
She said it would hurt a lot of people and questioned why it had to be pursued now.
Cr Flannery said ratepayers couldn’t afford an SRV and council’s time would be wasted on community engagement.
“Of course they’re not going to like it,” she said.
Cr Flannery pointed out that councillors accepted a pay increase earlier this year and questioned why council hadn’t been pursuing $3 million in unpaid rates.
Cr Adrian Cameron said residents were aware of council’s “dire and difficult” financial situation.
He said council introduced an SRV several years ago on the basis that it would result in financial sustainability “and we still haven’t got that”.
He said council needed to look at other options and consider other possibilities.
Cr Cameron also described the proposed community engagement strategy as ‘flawed’ and said engagement should have started months ago.
Deputy Mayor Kristin Butler said the proposed SRV was “something weighing heavily on all of us”.
She said it would hit the region’s most vulnerable hardest and possibly force some people out of the Yass Valley.
Cr Cecil Burgess said farmers who lease properties would suffer if the SRV goes ahead.
“I don’t like it – it’s too much,” he said.
“It’s going to be too hard on people.”
Cr Allan McGrath said council was “between a rock and a hard place”.
Cr David Rothwell said council had been “let down by previous leaders”.
Cr Alvaro Charry – who moved the foreshadowed motion adopted by council – said he was “conflicted” and told fellow councillors that the SRV decision had been sitting heavily on him.
“This is extremely hard and it is something we all take very seriously,” he said.
Cr Charry asked if council didn’t proceed with an SRV now if it would increase the risk of an even bigger SRV down the track.
Ms Burley confirmed that every year an SRV is deferred, the bigger it will need to be.
She said council’s current financial position was “not the position I would like council to be in” after six months in the job.
In terms of financial savings, she said the “low hanging fruit” had already been plucked and it would be a difficult road ahead. Service cuts would be inevitable.
Read More: Yass, Southern Tablelands