AUGUSTA Margaret River Shire has voted unanimously to raise rates by 4 per cent.
The rise is one per cent above inflation, but council officers said the extra revenue was critical to ensure continued services, particularly asset maintenance and renewal.
Councillor Ian Earl said he knew some ratepayers would be “unhappy” the increase was not kept to three per cent or less.
“We as councillors need to make strong decisions for the whole of the community and we need to do that all the time,” Cr Earl said.
“We need to look to our long term financial planning and our viability as a council and make sure we can continue to upgrade as we should.”
Cr Kim Hastie said the shire would lose $231,000 in Federal funding over the next three years and that State budget cuts to regional road funding threatened to have a further impact.
He said infrastructure projects such as Surfers' Point had placed a major strain on the shire's reserves, and increased rates would help rebuild those coffers.
However Cr Hastie said it was important the shire undertook a comprehensive review of expenditure.
