I wish to respond to the comments attributed to the Mayor of MWRC and Councillor Shelley from last Wednesday’s Council meeting in last Fridays edition of the Guardian, re farm rate cut rejected.
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The issue is not about the carve up and proportioning of this year’s rate increase. It’s about the equitable proportioning of the entire rate burden across the entire community which farmers have argued has been unfairly distributed for the life of MWRC.
The Mayor states we have more roads and three of everything to maintain. The farming community should not be singled out to unfairly provide the resourcing to maintain these public assets. The mining and tourism industries patronise and impact our road network considerably, as do many local businesses which spin off mining and tourism.
Farmers make up 14 per cent of ratepayers and currently pay 26 per cent of total rates.
We have gross economic production in dollars of approximately 5 per cent of the coal mining Industry in MWRC.
Given the mining industry is paying half the amount farmers are in rates, I fail to see how a correction could be interpreted as unfair or “subsidising the farmers” as the Mayor has suggested.
Councillor Shelley stated the mining rate had risen by 421 per cent over the last ten years. The coal mining rate has actually risen (on his figures) by 84 per cent, which is substantially less than their expansion and production increases over the last ten years and still only pay half that of the farming community.
Farmers are simply asking for a fair go.
