Budget

Kingborough Council approves Budget for 2019-20

Photo of the Civic Centre in Kingston

The Kingborough Council has approved a 3.95 per cent rate rise for 2019-20, after Councillors rejected an earlier proposal to increase rates by 5.5 per cent following community consultation.

The Mayor of Kingborough, Cr Dean Winter said Councillors and staff had spent upwards of eight hours in budget workshops fine-tuning the budget to limit the impact of the Southern Cross Care decision on ratepayers.  The Supreme Court has found that independent living units operated by Charitable institutions are not rateable, putting a $460,000 hole in Council’s budget.

“Despite Council losing about 2 per cent of its rate revenue, we have still managed to deliver the lowest rate rise in Kingborough for over a decade,” Cr Winter said.

“We are rolling out our biggest capital works plan, with the reconstruction of John Street and the Channel Highway in Kingston, including new bus infrastructure at the heart of the $10 million spend.

“Almost $1 million will be spent on Blackmans Bay stormwater projects, as well as adding a new stormwater engineer to our team to clean up Blackmans Bay and Kingston stormwater outflow.

“Our aim is to continue to have the lowest rates in Greater Hobart.  The State Government’s Local Government division’s most recent snapshot shows Kingborough has the lowest rates per rateable property and lowest rates per head of population in greater Hobart.”

The total capital works budget for 2019-20 is $17.13 million.

The focus for works includes the revitalisation of central Kingston and improving Kingborough’s water quality along with associated stormwater projects.

Highlights of new works, maintenance and stormwater solutions include:

  • Algona Road stormwater upgrade $640K
  • Burwood Drive stormwater upgrade $102k
  • Taroona Crescent stormwater upgrade $160K
  • Central Kingston catchment investigation $36K
  • John Street and Channel Highway upgrade $1.3M
  • Adventure Bay Road upgrades $150K 
  • Talone Road Construction $1.35M
  • Septic tank installation for Middleton Hall (an amendment saw this work moved into the 2019-20 year)
  • Designing the reconstruction of Snug Tiers Road