2017-09-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                           12 SEPTEMBER 2017


2.      Rate Concessions

Details of the Council pensioner concessions granted on the July Levy are set out below.

                                          Maximum Rebate
     Type of Council Concession                                     Properties             Amount
                                                (1/2 year)
Maximum/Sole Owner                                $115.00                1,208             $138,920
Maximum/Joint Owners                               $ 90.00               1,242             $106,736
Not Maximum/Sole Owner                             $57.50                  680              $39,100
Not Maximum/Joint Owners                           $32.50                  985              $31,299
Total                                                                    4,115             $316,055

Details of the pensioner concessions funded by the State Government are as follows: -

State Government Rebates               # Properties          Amount

General Rates & Charges                    4,280             $419,861
State Emergency Management Levy            4,280             $ 71,145

In addition to pensioner concessions general rate concessions were provided for 52 properties
totalling $75,041.

3.      Payment Preferences and Arrangements to Pay

BPay continues to be the most popular payment options by far, accounting for 60% of all money
received, followed by over the counter payments (including cheques mailed into Council) at 11%.
Payments at Australia Post offices account for a further 8%, with automated phone payments,
online payments and direct debit representing 7% each.

There are currently 417 properties that have made an arrangement to pay their current rates in
accordance with section 2.5.2 of the Revenue Statement, representing $283,520 of the
outstanding rates and charges.

4.      BPay View

As of the July levy, Council now offers BPay View as an alternative delivery method to post and
email. BPay View enables a rate notice to be sent to the owner’s appropriate financial institution,
who then alerts the customer of a bill awaiting action within their internet banking platform. The
process for BPay View is as follows:

1.      The customer logs on to their personal internet banking platform and registers to receive
        their Council rate notice via BPay View.
2.      They then receive a notification from their bank when they have a new Council bill, which
        they can view in a secure online environment, and then make payment following the usual
        BPay process.

Following a soft launch of this alternative delivery method, we have received 238 registrations to
date.


Previous Council Consideration

Nil.




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