A projected surplus of $1.5 million has been supported by substantial rate rises of over 9 per cent in the 2025/26 Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) Annual Budget.

As ‘Other Urban Residential Areas’, properties in the townships of Wyreema, Cambooya, Nobby, Greenmount and East Greenmount, as well as rural residential properties, will receive an average general rate rise of 9.4 per cent to $1,013.

Westbrook, Hodgson Vale, Top Camp, Vale View and Mount Rascal, categorised as ‘Outer Urban Residential’, will receive an average general rate rise of 9.48 per cent to $1,351 from $1,234.

A big ticket item in the budget is $7,174,621 allocated to the Southern Water Treatment Plant Project, which will supply water to the towns of Cambooya, Greenmount and Nobby. Toowoomba Region Mayor Geoff McDonald said despite many challenges, the $1.5 million forecast surplus strengthens TRCs sustainable financial future.

“Council has adopted a general rate rise of 9.5 per cent for Toowoomba urban residential ratepayers. The general rate rise for 68 percent of all rateable properties across the Toowoomba Region will be less than 10 percent,” Mayor McDonald said.

“We have included a 5 per cent pay-on-time discount for all residential ratepayers (including rural residential) and have again offered generous pensioner rebates of $120 per year which supports more than 10,900 pensioner households across our Region.”

The 5 per cent discount for paying on-time has been halved from 10 per cent.

“The continued rising cost to Council of delivering business-as-usual services to our Region has seen Council working extremely hard to adopt a sustainable Budget,” the Mayor said.

“We have made provisions for a $469 million operational spend while $236 million has been allocated to Council’s capital projects.

“This year we have budgeted $14.4 million for electricity.

“That’s $14.4 million just to keep essential services running and the lights on.

“That’s an increase of $1.9 million from last year or 15.5 per cent.” Mayor McDonald said TRC’s insurance premiums are much the same.

“Despite not changing our level of coverage, it’ll cost Council $5 million to pay our premiums this year which is a $2.1 million increase, 73 per cent higher than last year,” he said.

“The volatility in fuel prices will also be felt with a whopping $5.7 million forecast in fuel alone to keep Council’s fleet on the road.

“Just like households, these are unavoidable expenses for Council that keep rising well beyond inflation each year.”

Mayor McDonald said Council will be burdened with the State Government’s Waste Levy Bin Tax.

“This levy covers 39 of Queensland’s 77 local government areas.

“Essentially, the State Government is taxing us for the amount of waste which ends up in our landfills.

“We have Budgeted $9 million to cover the full cost of the levy, with a gap of $4.2 million to be funded from general rates and commercial gate fees after the State Government’s annual waste levy payment,” he said.

The public transport levy, applied to all ratepayers regardless of public transport options where they live, has increased to $43 from $40.

“Our water security continues to be a high priority for Council and this year we will enter the second year of a fiveyear price path for water infrastructure and water usage,” the Mayor said.

“We operate some eight water treatment plants, seven waste water treatment plants, more than 2,000 kilometres of water mains, almost 1,400 kilometres of wastewater mains and three dams that all require continued maintenance and renewal to keep water flowing from taps and sewage moving.

“The water infrastructure charge for an average property will increase $83.30 for the year or $1.60 per week with changes to the early payment discounts also factored in.”

“We have factored in $14.75 million of savings in materials, services and operational expenditure in the adoption of today’s Budget.

“This reduction will contribute to the way we will continue to cut the cloth to ensure our Council’s financial outlook remains sound, while delivering the services and facilities our growing community needs.

“I’m more than confident Council will maintain its strong financial position as a result of careful management.” 

This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 26 June 2025.