COMMUNITY consultation will start quickly if Bathurst Regional Council decides to go ahead with a supersized rates increase.
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Council dropped a bombshell on Friday afternoon with a media release saying that it will seek to raise rates by almost 70 per cent over two years.
The council is citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts of recent weather events on local infrastructure as among the factors to justify the increase.
Council says a report going to its meeting this Wednesday will "seek the endorsement for community consultation on a potential application to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) for a permanent Special Rate Variation (SRV)".
The report recommends a special rate variation which consists of 43.5 per cent in 2024-25 (including the forecasted rate peg of 3.5 per cent) and 17.5 per cent in 2025-26 (including the forecasted rate peg of 2.5 per cent).
That, council says, will represent a cumulative special variation of 68.6 per cent over two years.
The report to this Wednesday's council meeting says that, if council resolves to seek the proposed rate increase, community consultation will start on Thursday, August 17 and conclude on Friday, October 27.
"Following conclusion of that process, a report on the community engagement and feedback received via that process will be prepared and submitted to Council for consideration at its Ordinary Meeting scheduled for 16 November 2023," the report says.
"It should be noted that, should Council proceed in making application to IPART for an SV, IPART will seek its own community feedback separate from Council's processes and invite submissions from members of the public.
"This process is typically undertaken in the subsequent February/March."
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