A new Revenue and Plan 2025-2029 has been adopted which outlines how revenue is calculated and collected.
Adopted at last Monday's Council meeting, the Revenue and Rating Plan explains how the City of Greater Bendigo will raise funds to provide services, facilities and infrastructure over the next four years.
This includes finding the most appropriate and affordable rates approach for Greater Bendigo's residents and businesses. It also includes principles for decision-making for other income sources such as fees and charges.
Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said the new Rating and Revenue Plan provided responsible fiscal planning and is informed by the new Council Plan Mir wimbul 2025-2029.
"The City provides around 60 services, maintains facilities and infrastructure and looks after important projects and initiatives. It must collect revenue to cover the costs for these services and assets," Cr Metcalf said.
"The most significant revenue streams are from rates revenue, user fees and charges and government grants which together make up over 90% of council revenue each year.
"The total revenue raised for the 2025/2026 financial year is expected to be $263M with $160M from rates and charges, $28M from user charges, fees and fines, and $49M from government grants. In-kind contributions valued at $18M for infrastructure assets are expected to be given during the new fiscal year at no cost to the City. Capital works expenditure is estimated at nearly $70M.
"Greater Bendigo currently has different rating types for different properties, known as differential rates, to allow classes of properties to be assessed at different levels to the general rate set for the municipality. This allows for a more equal distribution of the rate burden, depending on the use of the land.
"In May, the community was invited to complete a Revenue and Rating Plan survey on the City's engagement platform Let's Talk Greater Bendigo.
"Drawing on community feedback from the survey and engagement throughout the Budget project, there is a change to the rates and charges structure for 2025/2026 across the different classes of land.
"This includes a 10% reduction in the Farm Land differential rate and 5% increase to the commercial and industrial differential rates to ensure there is a fair and equitable distribution of the rating burden across the different classes of land," Cr Metcalf said.
