Special Charge Schemes and Road Projects
BASS COAST SHIRE
What is a Special Charge Scheme?
There are over 240 km of unsealed roads across the Shire. Over half of these roads are within urban or residential areas. Council may improve these roads by fully constructing the road through sealing and installing underground drainage and kerb. These kind of improvements to infrastructure can be done using a user pays system that is known as a special charge. If you own a propertyin oneof these urban areas you may be affected.
What are Special Charge Schemes and why do Councils use them?
State Government Legislation has recognised that councils need help to provide improved infrastructure for their local communities. Legislation allows councils to pass on the cost of constructing sealed roads, kerb and channel, footpaths, underground drainage and other capital infrastructure to the owner of a property that generally receives a unique benefit from the construction works. The technical explanation of a Special Charge comes from legislation (under the Local Government Act 1989) that allows Councils to recover the cost of works from property owners who will gain special benefit from that work.
Our Road and Drainage Improvement Projects Information Sheet (PDF 120kb) may help to answer any questions you have about the scope or extent of the projects.
What if you can't afford the charge?
This website also features information about Financial Assistance. for those who may experience undue Financial Hardship as a result of being included in aspecial charge scheme. You can contact Council's Project Officer-Finance, Mark Greening (Monday to Wednesday) on 1300 BCOAST (226 278) for any further information.
Is your street scheduled for road construction?
The Road and Drainage Improvement Priority List (PDF 129kb) outlines the program for improvement for areas of the shire. These timelines are estimates only and are subject to a full Council review. You can contact our Infrastructure Projects Team on 1300 BCOAST (226 278) for any further information.
YARRA RANGES COUNCIL
SPECIAL CHARGE SCHEMES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
What is a Special Charge Scheme?
The Local Government Act 1989 provides Council with the ability to introduce a Special Charge Scheme whereby landowner contributions can be sought for infrastructure improvement projects such as roads, footpaths and drainage. A Special Charge Scheme may also be considered for township development and traffic management projects.
Landowner funded schemes have been in place for many years. Council records dating back to the 1920’s detail the involvement of landowners in many road and other improvement projects, e.g. drainage, footpaths, kerb and channel, etc.
A Special Charge Scheme is generally introduced where the works proposed are to the special benefit of a defined group of properties.
Why haven't these improvement works been provided in the past?
A considerable amount of development occurred throughout Yarra Ranges from 1900 through to the 1950s, at a time when our municipality was considered as a part of country Victoria rather than part of metropolitan Melbourne. Standards and community expectations for infrastructure improvements were less then than would now be required today. Prior to the 1960s, the Local Government Act did not give Council the powers to require developers to provide infrastructure improvements as part of new subdivisions.
Significant changes occurred to the Local Government Act in 1958, and since this time developers are now required to construct roads, footpaths and underground drainage in addition to providing utility services such as gas, electricity, water and street lighting. The costs of these infrastructure improvements are however passed on to new property owners as they purchase the new allotments created through the subdivision.
Why should I be involved in a Special Charge Scheme proposal?
Your property is identified as receiving special benefit from the works i.e. a benefit which is over and above that obtained by persons who have not been included in the scheme.
Properties sharing a boundary with the works will generally receive special benefits such as reduction of noise and dust, protection from drainage runoff, collection of drainage runoff, improved property access, improved road safety, and general property amenity improvement.
DEPT OF TRANSPORT, PLANNING AND LOCAL INFRAASTRUCTURE
Sometimes council will levy special rates or special charges. These are different from general rates and charges because they are levied for particular works or services and they are levied on a limited number of ratepayers.
The Local Government Act enables councils to levy a special rate, a special charge (or a combination of these) to help pay for any council service or activity that will be of special benefit to a particular group of property owners. A "special benefit" is a benefit that is additional to, or greater than, the benefit generally available to other people.
Common examples of special rates or charges include schemes for constructing footpaths, roads, kerbs and channels or drains; and arrangements for providing services like promotion, marketing or economic development (eg for commercial businesses).
While a council may set a special rate or charge for almost any type of activity that the council undertakes, it is limited by provisions of the Act which require special rates and charges to be levied in proportion to special benefits. Before a council proposes a special rate or charge, it must estimate the proportion of the benefits of the proposed works or services that will be of benefit to the people who are liable to pay.
For example, before a council proposes a special charge for a road construction scheme it will calculate what share of the benefits of the road construction will provide for the adjoining properties (improved drainage, reduced dust, better access, etc) compared with general benefits to other people (eg other drivers using the road). The council will limit the total proportion of costs to be paid by all the property owners to their combined share of the benefits.
The council will also set criteria to determine how the rate or charge will be apportioned between the affected ratepayers. Understanding the way a special rate or special charge is apportioned can be complicated. Contact your local council for more detail.
The main provision allowing councils to levy special rates and charges is in Section 163 of the Local Government Act 1989.
Ministerial Guideline: Special Rates and Special Charges: Calculating Maximum Total Levy
(Published in the Government Gazette on 23 September 2004)
will soon be updated
as will TheMacquarie Local Government Lawyers Special Rates and ChargesManual2016 edition, which will be available soon for purchase for an updated price. The 2012 edition cost $895including GST and delivery (professionallyprinted and made available in"Act" format).
“The special rates and charges provisions of the Local Government Act 1989 continue to exemplify the changes in (and the challenges for) local government. As a potential source of ‘additional’ revenue for Councils, section 163 means that Councils should be encouraged to raise special rates and special charges for any purpose considered to be within the attainment of their objectives.
“The First Edition of the Macquarie Special Rates and Charges Manual is in the process of being completely revised. While it is anticipated that the Second Edition will not substantively change the First Edition, the Second Edition will nonetheless draw on the lessons to be learned from the recent decision of the High Court of Australia in Isbester v Knox City Council (in relation to a Council’s administrative decision-making powers) and the several cases which have been decided by VCAT on special rates and charges since the publication of the First Edition.
“The Second Edition will also contain new Local Government Regulations. These regulations will replace the Local Government (General) Regulations 2004 when they expire on 26 October 2015). The Second Edition will also address any consequential changes arising from the introduction of the new regulations.
The Second Edition of the Manual will continue to be a valuable tool for all Council officers who are required to prepare or administer any special rate or special charge scheme. In the form of ‘working examples’ and ‘completed pro-formas’, the revised Second Edition of the Manual will continue to contain all of the documentation necessary for a Council to declare and levy a special rate or special charge under section 163 of the Local Government Act 1989. Comprising what will be more than 230 pages, the revised Manual will contain all of the resolutions, public notices and declarations required by a Council to declare a special rate or special charge for –
• the promotion of a retail shopping centre;
• the promotion of a commercial business precinct;
• the construction of a road;
• the construction of a footpath; and
• the provision of drainage infrastructure.
It would be fair to assume that the new edition will also contain, “ (with Crown permission) … extracts from relevant legislative provisions and [will again include] the Ministerial Guideline.”
Golden plains shire scheme last January to defray part of the costs of major traffic infrastructure works in Bannockburn – roundabout, kerbing and channeling median works and other work as required by Vic Roads. $300,000 of the $900,000 scheme was paid by a ($15m shopping plaza) beneficiary of the works.
Darebin council unmade laneway made to enable access to rear of Preston properties “Underground drainage is also required for household storm water connections that discharge to the right-of way.”
Mitchell Shire Council 28-7-2014
“Section 163 of the Act is intended to enable a Council to recover the partial cost of capital works and economic development projects from property owners where those works will be of a special benefit to them. These works are primarily, but not limited to, road, drainage, kerb & channelling, footpath construction projects and arrangements for providing services like promotion, marketing or economic development (eg. for commercial businesses) that are either requested by the abutting property owners or implemented by Council as part of its capital works program. Once the works have been constructed, it will become Council’s responsibility to maintain the asset to appropriate standards.”
KNOX
Footpaths and bicycle paths
Kerb and challelling
Drainage
Road sealing
Off-street parking
Aireys Inlet & District Association
Preserving the area - Eastern View, Moggs Creek, Fairhaven, Aireys Inlet, Urquhart Bluff, 2010
Residents may find the projects neitherbeneficial nor necessary. It is questionable whether the benefit of a sealed road outweighs the increase in traffic, the increase in speeding cars, the increase in buses, and the total loss of neighbourhood character. Whether infrastructure is necessary is also highly subjective.
The council’s policy on Infrastructure Special Rate or Charge Scheme states that special charge schemes are necessary because infrastructure demands exceed available financial resources.
This argument is flawed on two counts. First, the job of the council is to allocate limited financial resources in a responsible and expedient manner throughout the Shire. If infrastructure is needed, then money will be allocated for that project on a needs basis, as is often the case now.
A special charge scheme, funded by residents, enables projects to go ahead that would perhaps never stand up to the rigors of allocation of funds through general revenue. Second, residents should not be expected to pay money, often many thousands of dollars, in addition to their rates.
It is disturbing that council’s website indicates the only recourse for objection to a special charge scheme is through VCAT. This is not the case. It is only fair that residents should be informed of the provision contained in Section 6 of the Local Government Act ( 1989) s163b, but no mention is made of it on the council’s website. Section 6 states that a council cannot make a declaration to levy a special charge if the council receives objections from the majority of rateable properties in respect to which the special charge scheme would be imposed. So, if more than half of the owners of the rateable properties object to a special charge scheme then it will not proceed.
Shire special charge scheme not mentioned in the A-Z listing. Mention of special charge schemes came in the Footpath Construction Strategy – Revision No 1, Nov. 2011, stating that “In some cases a mandatory or voluntary landowner contribution will apply and Special Charge Schemes may be required. Mandatory landowner contributions, when they apply, vary from 25% to 66% of the cost.
No reference could be found to ratepayers’ right to object and, if objectors are a majority, council not being able to proceed with the scheme. It may be buried somewhere in the website, however, if one has infinite patience and time and an iron will.
This website reminds searcher of carnival lucky dips, where youngsters would indulge in a Luck Dip for boys or girls, plunging one’s arm into a barrel full of sawdust and gifts. One was frequently disappointed at what one found.
Many pages, apparently ingenuously, suggest you “rate this page – was the information useful to you?”