After several years of persistently raising issues and concerns with Council about the state of our foreshore park, our Parks and Gardens Subcommittee convenor Denise Foote has received an indication that Council is moving towards upgrading this popular community space.

Nearby residents have been consistently disappointed with the apparent lack of care and concern for their local park – hardly a good advertisement for Raby Bay, Cleveland, or the Redlands.

The good news is that Council have applied for federal funding to carry out the badly-needed work.  We wish them success with their bid.  Thanks Denise for your constant attention to this lifestyle facility.

See a copy of the letter here.

http://www.baysidebulletin.com.au/news/local/news/general/action-taken-to-fix-shifting-canal-wall/1745292.aspx

On Monday 8thFebruary, the Association held its Annual General Meeting for 2009.  The Committee Executive were elected for 2010  Returning to the committee are:-

President:  James Mardon
Vice President:  Bill Vallance
Secretary:  Denise Foote
Committee Members:  Garry Brell, George Harris, Doug Cox

We welcome our newly elected committee members:

Treasurer:  Steve Tsimos
Committee Members:  Alan McGirvan, Pam Holley

The Committee would like to echo the resolution of the meeting in thanking departing Treasurer Jan Proctor for her tireless and effective role as Treasurer to the Association over many years.

The next big event will be the Rates Rally at the Concert Hall on 29th March – see you there.

February 2010

Rein In Out-of-control Rates

As citizens in Redlands City municipality, we are being afforded one of the privileges of living in a democracy – the ability to express our views in an attempt to influence the direction of something that affects us.  In this case, the way our council rates are calculated and distributed across the community.  Council has announced and begun a process of determining how our rates are calculated and apportioned across the Redlands community.

This is an opportunity we should not pass up, especially since rates have become a hot topic for residents of Raby Bay.  It’s one of the key issues for your Ratepayers’ Association.  This is because, in our view, council charges collected through rating are, for us, out of control.

If we allow the current rating scheme to remain unchallenged, then we should expect to continue to see massive and unpredictable jumps in charges, while in other areas of the city rates will be quite stable, or may even fall.  For some people this will be an inconvenience.  For others on constrained or fixed incomes, it will mean the necessity to sell and move on, leaving friends and neighbours purely due to the impact of these charges.  For tenants, it will almost certainly flow through in the form of rental increases.

There are three components to our rates and charges:-

• A charge calculated using the Unimproved Capital Value of the property – a crude way of  approximating the income of the ratepayer so that the most affluent support those less well-off.
• A charge which represents the cost of provision of certain council services
• A special levy for those with canal frontages, which is an apportionment across those ratepayers of the cost of canal revetment repairs and canal maintenance.

The latter area is the least controllable, and the major increases relate primarily to the failure rate and high engineering cost.  The next least controllable id the UCV-based portion.

What can we do as ratepayers or affected residents?

• Be aware of the rates issues affecting you.
• Become a member of the Ratepayers’ Association to strengthen  our collective influence while this rates review is in progress, and work to lessen the unfairness of our rates share.
• Become involved in the review process when further opportunites come up.

The Annual General Meeting of the Association will be held in the Volunteer Marine Rescue Raby Bay premises, William St. Cleveland at 7.30 pm on Monday 8 February 2010.

Nomination forms for Committee will be available on the night.

A General Meeting will precede the AGM with current issues being addressed.

Your General Rates and Canal Levies are out of control as well as indiscriminate spending by the Redland City Council.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT – JOIN NOW

AMOUNT PAYABLE – $10 per household

Thanks to all those members who attended and registered their interest in participating in the follow-on activities early in the NewYear.

Thanks also to committee member George Harris whose determined activity under the banner of Redland Rate Reform Group has in large measure brought about the review.

We now need all high-value propery-owners across the city to give support to George in his quest to have a fairere rating system in the Redlands.

 Guest Speaker – Murray Erbs, Group Manager City Infrastructure, Redland City Council.

  A controversy has arisen regarding the council proposal to set up a construction holding and loading area to be used for ongoing rectification work of canal revetment walls over the next few years. The initial proposal to use a site off Shore St West near Kinsail Court in current park land has been strongly opposed by nearby residents.

 Mr Erbs will explain the form of operation and present the options being considered and the process involved in making that decision.