Coorong homeowners face $140 average rates bill increase
The Coorong council plans to raise an extra $1 million in property rates in 2026-27 to support various projects, including growth at Wellington East.
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Coorong property owners will cop a 6.6 per cent rates increase this year, the local council has indicated in its draft budget for 2026-27.
An average homeowner will pay an extra $140, for a total bill of $1387.
The money will go towards core council services, renewal of assets like roads, and key strategic projects, according to acting Mayor Jonathan Pietzsch.
“Budgeting is a careful matter of balance, and … elected members and staff acutely (considered) the cost-of-living crisis that continues to impact so many,” he said in a foreword to the draft budget.
“Our focus has always been on the community, and now more than ever before, we need to make appropriate investment for the benefit of future generations and” – with elections due later this year –“the elected body after us.”
Big projects for the council over the next 12 months will include:
- Preparing for growth at Wellington East, where a new water supply is being connected to households and a new wastewater system is needed
- A $280,000 budget line for “strategic land acquisition”
- Securing water for fire fighting in rural areas
- Investigating a potential hard rubbish collection service
Two sections of road at Tailem Bend will be re-sealed at a cost of $468,000: Kulde Road between Trevena Road and Athol Grove, and Granites Road between Station Drive and First Avenue.
The same two roads will get $248,000 worth of footpath improvements, too.
Overall, council spending of $22.3 million will be split pretty evenly between four areas: employee wages; contractors and materials; roads and other infrastructure; and depreciation, which measures the declining value of the council’s assets.
On the other side of the ledger, property rates and other charges will make up almost 70 per cent of the council’s revenue, with most of the rest coming from government grants.
The council has projected a final deficit of $665,000.
As usual, ratepayers may have waste collection and wastewater management charges, plus the state government’s Regional Landscape Levy, added onto their bills.
It’s not just households who face a rate hike, either – the shop and office owners can expect to pay an extra $55-114, while farmers will pay an extra $412 per property, on average.
Wellington East residents will also be asked to make a one-off, $2750 contribution to the water supply project, though that amount can be paid over a three-year period if needed.
Ratepayers facing a particularly big increase can request that it be capped at 15%, and help will be available for those who would struggle to pay.
One councillor declined to vote in favour of the draft budget at a meeting on Tuesday: Jeff Arthur, who was concerned about how much money the council planned to borrow.
“I couldn’t vote for this,” he said.
But a majority voted to push ahead with a period of public consultation which will begin on May 1.
Long-term plan takes an optimistic view
Meanwhile, the council has also drafted a long-term plan which projects its financial outlook all the way out to 2036.
The plan represented “a road map for long-term financial sustainability”, councillors were told at a meeting on Tuesday.
Ten years from now, the council projected that it would be able to:
- return surplus budgets
- renew its assets as quickly as old ones deteriorated, and
- stabilise rate increases in line with inflation
The long-term financial plan will also be subject to public consultation.
The Essential Services Commission of South Australia rated the Coorong council’s finances as “mostly sustainable” at a review last year.
- Have your say: Visit www.coorong.sa.gov.au after May 1, or attend a public meeting at the council’s Tailem Bend office at 6.30pm on May 26.
- Read more: Wellington East water project will go ahead after council votes yes
- Read more: Coorong council rated as “mostly sustainable”
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect figure for the council’s total expenditure for 2026-27. Clarification: The headline has been updated to reflect the fact that the $140 increase is an average, not an exact figure.
