
City of Rockingham council reduces rate rise to 3.5% but cost-of-living support carries $460k shortfall
The council opted to go against a proposal to lift rates by 3.9 per cent next financial year in favour of a 'more modest' increase of 3.5 per cent.
The higher figure would have enabled the city to lock away a war chest for planned upgrades at Aqua Jetty and Mike Barnett Sports Complex, but opting for the lower figure has left a $460,000 hole in the council's annual budget and uncertainty about where the cost shortfalls for those projects will come from.
Cr Kelly Middlecoat led the charge at last week's meeting to limit the rates increase to 3.5 per cent, arguing that ratepayers were already paying an extra $33 due to the FOGO waste levy.
'Having a look at the broader economic picture, the CPI for the 12 months ended 31 March 2025 was 2.4 per cent and the WA local government cost index is forecast to be 2.7 per cent this year,' she said.
'This shows our proposed increase is outpacing the general cost of living and even specific costs faced by local government.
'A rate increase of 3.9 per cent was intended to generate some additional revenue over and above what was required in order to address the funding shortfalls for the Aqua Jetty and Mike Barnett projects.
'The precise budget for these projects remains unquantified, with neither project being shovel-ready next financial year.'
Council members voted unanimously for Cr Middlecoat's alternative motion.
In a later statement, Rockingham mayor Deb Hamblin said the council's annual budget aimed to strike a balance between addressing community needs while acknowledging cost-of-living pressures.
'Council listened to community concerns about the current economic circumstances facing many households and has kept the rate increase to a minimum,' Ms Hamblin said.
'The increase is 3.5 per cent which equates to approximately $1.06 per week for the average residence, and is lower than advertised to support our ratepayers with cost-of-living pressures.
'In addition, council has supported not charging interest on rates-smoothing payments for the 2025-2026 financial year to provide further assistance with cost-of-living pressures. This option will greatly assist ratepayers choosing this option to pay their rates without any extra costs.'
Ms Hamblin said the budget was prepared with an eye on the future while continuing to meet the community's aspirations defined in the 2023-2033 Strategic Community Plan.
It includes money to complete the Stan Twight clubroom redevelopment, the final stage of the Baldivis Sporting Complex including outdoor courts, Southern Pavilion and outdoor recreation space, the Anniversary Park clubroom redevelopment and the relocation of Lotteries House.
'As a rapidly growing outer metropolitan local government area with a current population of more than 150,000 people, keeping pace with the growing needs of the community and maintaining existing assets and services remain ongoing challenges,' she said.
'In addition, with 37 kilometres of coastline, climate change is a major challenge for us. That's why 0.5 per cent of rates will be allocated to a coastal hazard risk management and adaptation plan reserve account to help fund future climate change mitigation works.'
Ratepayers who want to take advantage of the interest-free arrangement need to have an existing arrangement or sign up using the application form that will arrive with the rates notice.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
8 hours ago
- West Australian
‘No magic wand': RBA explains what they are looking for ahead of next rate call
A tight labour market blocked a rate cut in July, but the RBA boss says Australians won't have to choose between a job and rate relief. In her speech at the Anika Foundation Fundraising lunch on Thursday, RBA governor Michele Bullock revealed what the central bank will be looking for when it meets in August to discuss the cash rate. She said the board was not looking for outright mass job losses, but a gradual easing in labour market conditions that has so far been most evident in fewer job vacancies, reductions in hours worked and declining rates of voluntary job switching. 'These shifts aren't without their challenges, but they all tend to be less disruptive than outright job losses,' she said. Pointing to last week's ABS labour market data, she said the spike in job losses, from 4.1 to 4.3 per cent, was not the silver bullet for future rate cuts that experts forecast. 'Some of the coverage of the latest data suggested this was a shock – but the outcome for the June quarter was in line with the forecast we released in May,' she said. She explained looking only at labour market movements, there were more outright job losses than the RBA had forecast, but other measures such as the vacancy rates were in line with previous central bank predictions. 'More broadly, leading indicators are not pointing to further significant increases in the unemployment rate in the near term,' she said. Ms Bullock said while the board's remit was to balance employment with price stability, the central bank wasn't necessarily looking for job losses. 'I should note the RBA can't wave a magic wand and control how adjustments in the labour market play out. Interest rates are too blunt an instrument for that.' 'Losing a job can be one of the most stressful events in someone's life, and it can have far-reaching implications for families and communities,' she said. Ms Bullock's speech reinforces the message from the minutes of the RBA's monetary policy board meeting, released on Wednesday, where the central bank revealed a tight labour market was the key blocker of further rate cuts. 'Recent monthly CPI indicator data – which can be volatile and does not cover all items in the CPI – were broadly consistent with this expectation,' the RBA board said. But with more Australians currently in work, the RBA was wary the strong employment figures could lead to an increase in inflation. 'The labour market was assessed to have remained tight, with measures of labour utilisation little changed over the prior year,' it said. 'Growth in private demand had begun to recover, but was still subdued.' A cautious RBA monetary board held the official cash rate at 3.85 per cent following its July meeting, with the shock move defying expert commentators and predictions from the money markets. The board voted 6-3 in favour of the hold. 'A minority of members judged that there was a case to lower the cash rate target at this meeting,' the board said. 'These members placed more weight on downside risks to the economic outlook – stemming from a likely slowing in growth abroad and from the subdued pace of GDP growth in Australia.' The RBA monetary policy board will next meet on August 12, with money markets widely forecasting a rate cut.


Perth Now
8 hours ago
- Perth Now
RBA boss gives major rates clue
A tight labour market blocked a rate cut in July, but the RBA boss says Australians won't have to choose between a job and rate relief. In her speech at the Anika Foundation Fundraising lunch on Thursday, RBA governor Michele Bullock revealed what the central bank will be looking for when it meets in August to discuss the cash rate. She said the board was not looking for outright mass job losses, but a gradual easing in labour market conditions that has so far been most evident in fewer job vacancies, reductions in hours worked and declining rates of voluntary job switching. RBA governor Michele Bullock explains what the RBA wants to see from the jobs market. Christian Gilles / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'These shifts aren't without their challenges, but they all tend to be less disruptive than outright job losses,' she said. Pointing to last week's ABS labour market data, she said the spike in job losses, from 4.1 to 4.3 per cent, was not the silver bullet for future rate cuts that experts forecast. 'Some of the coverage of the latest data suggested this was a shock – but the outcome for the June quarter was in line with the forecast we released in May,' she said. She explained looking only at labour market movements, there were more outright job losses than the RBA had forecast, but other measures such as the vacancy rates were in line with previous central bank predictions. 'More broadly, leading indicators are not pointing to further significant increases in the unemployment rate in the near term,' she said. Ms Bullock said while the board's remit was to balance employment with price stability, the central bank wasn't necessarily looking for job losses. 'I should note the RBA can't wave a magic wand and control how adjustments in the labour market play out. Interest rates are too blunt an instrument for that.' 'Losing a job can be one of the most stressful events in someone's life, and it can have far-reaching implications for families and communities,' she said. Ms Bullock's speech reinforces the message from the minutes of the RBA's monetary policy board meeting, released on Wednesday, where the central bank revealed a tight labour market was the key blocker of further rate cuts. 'Recent monthly CPI indicator data – which can be volatile and does not cover all items in the CPI – were broadly consistent with this expectation,' the RBA board said. Ms Bullock warns strong jobs growth can impact inflation. NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar Credit: NewsWire But with more Australians currently in work, the RBA was wary the strong employment figures could lead to an increase in inflation. 'The labour market was assessed to have remained tight, with measures of labour utilisation little changed over the prior year,' it said. 'Growth in private demand had begun to recover, but was still subdued.' A cautious RBA monetary board held the official cash rate at 3.85 per cent following its July meeting, with the shock move defying expert commentators and predictions from the money markets. The board voted 6-3 in favour of the hold. 'A minority of members judged that there was a case to lower the cash rate target at this meeting,' the board said. 'These members placed more weight on downside risks to the economic outlook – stemming from a likely slowing in growth abroad and from the subdued pace of GDP growth in Australia.' The RBA monetary policy board will next meet on August 12, with money markets widely forecasting a rate cut.


Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Why RBA put shock hold on rates
A stronger than expected job market stopped the RBA pulling the trigger on a July rate cut, leaving struggling homeowners to wait a little longer for rate relief. The central bank released its meeting minutes on Tuesday, showing the board decided to hold the cash rate despite inflation sitting within its target range. 'Recent monthly CPI indicator data – which can be volatile and do not cover all items in the CPI – were broadly consistent with this expectation,' the RBA board said. But with more Australians currently in work, the RBA was wary the strong employment figures could lead to an increase in inflation. 'The labour market was assessed to have remained tight, with measures of labour utilisation little changed over the prior year,' it said. 'Growth in private demand had begun to recover, but was still subdued.' The board voted 6-3 in favour of holding the cash rate. Christian Gilles / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia The RBA had to work with May's unemployment figures, which showed just 4.1 per cent of eligible Australians were out of work. When the June figures were released after the RBA meeting, it showed unemployment had jumped to 4.3 per cent, with 34,000 Aussies losing their jobs. But households may not have to wait long for interest rate relief, with the RBA's meeting minutes seemingly clearing the way for further rate cuts. 'All members agreed that, based on the information currently available, the outlook was for underlying inflation to decline further in year-ended terms, warranting some additional reduction in interest rates over time,' the RBA minutes said. RBA governor Michele Bullock fronted a press conference after holding the cash rate at 3.85 per cent. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia A cautious RBA monetary board held the official cash rate at 3.85 per cent following its July meeting, with the shock move defying expert commentators and predictions from the money markets. The board voted 6-3 in favour of the hold. 'A minority of members judged that there was a case to lower the cash rate target at this meeting,' the board said. 'These members placed more weight on downside risks to the economic outlook – stemming from a likely slowing in growth abroad and from the subdued pace of GDP growth in Australia.' Australia's Cash Rate 2022 Critics say the board is unlikely to learn anything by holding interest rates for a further five weeks. Christian Gilles / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Fronting the media after the decision, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said the votes were 'unattributed' and declined repeatedly to reveal her position. She said the board wanted to wait for the full quarterly data to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 'By then we will know what the June quarter CPI is and if it comes in as we think it will – a little bit at the margin, we're a little bit worried about – but if it comes in as we think it will, continue to decline, then that validates our easing path,' she said. Opinion remains divided as to whether the hold was the right decision. Westpac chief economist Luci Ellis, who worked for the RBA for 15 years, says the central bank might have chosen to 'assert its independence' by bucking expectations of a rate cut. 'There was no real economic benefit to waiting five more weeks,' Ms Ellis wrote in an economic note released last week. While the decision may have left homeowners frustrated, Ms Ellis said it was a low-risk decision for the central bank from a broader economic perspective. 'The dirty little secret of monetary policy is that small differences in the level of interest rates or the timing of changes make essentially no difference for inflation outcomes,' Ms Ellis said. 'If holding the cash rate 100 basis points lower for a year only boosts inflation by 0.2 per cent or so – broadly the result from the RBA's main model – then 25bp higher for five weeks is not even a rounding error.' The RBA will next meet on August 12, with money markets widely forecasting a rate cut.