Feedback closed on 3 September 2023.

We're facing a challenging situation:

  • rate capping is limiting our available budget
  • the cost is rising to keep our ageing buildings up to the standard our community expects
  • Council’s contribution to community facilities significantly outweighs the income from leases and licences.

As a result, Council isn’t covering the increasing costs of owning and maintaining these properties. We're at a point where change is necessary.

We understand change can be a challenge, particularly when it comes to cost. That's why we're asking for your input. Through this survey, we invite you to share your thoughts and experiences to help us reshape our pricing. Your ideas will contribute to creating a structure that aims to balance everyone's needs.

To give you a clearer picture, let's talk about what we do with our community leases.

We have more than 90 community leases with a variety of groups, including recreational clubs, charities, and community organisations. These groups lease various types of properties, such as sports facilities, community halls, and kindergartens.

Our average rental income from these community leases is about $92,000 per year but we spend a lot more to help support these groups do their important work. For example, last financial year we spent more than $225,000 on insurance, the fire services property levy, and waste and bin charges for our community facilities. Over the past three years, we’ve also spent more than $400,000 on maintenance for our community facilities (including essential safety measures, scheduled maintenance and on-demand repairs).

In addition, we’ve budgeted to invest $76 million in funding towards building improvements over the next four years.

We acknowledge that many community groups contribute towards the upkeep of their buildings to varying degrees.

Along with community facilities, Council also leases and licences property to commercial businesses and government agencies.

Right now, our prices are set by a policy from 2012:

  • Commercial leases and licences are priced at market rate or decided through an expression of interest process
  • Non-profit clubs and organisations pay based on how much land and building space they use, with a minimum fee of $300 plus GST per year
  • Non-profit community groups, including charities, pay between $100 to $300 plus GST per year.

Council wants to support community groups to provide their services and while we’re not looking to make money from our community leases or licences, we also won’t be decreasing our prices. We do however want to hear your ideas on how we can make our pricing more sustainable for Council, while still considering the needs of our tenants, licencees, and the broader community.

Remember, this is a conversation. Let’s talk about how we best move forward together. Your thoughts are essential in helping us navigate this situation, ensuring our community facilities can continue to serve you and future generations.

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