Special Rate Variation Community Engagement Report - Shoalhaven City Council

2 had a support level of 2 out of 10
5 had a support level of 3 out of 10
2 had a support level of 5 out of 10
3 had a support level of 7 out of 10
2 had a support level of 8 out of 10: and
7 were very supportive of the proposal (10 out of 10).
Suggestions for saving money:
Reduce services such as libraries and swimming pools
User pays system
Administrative improvements
Asset maintenance system to ensure best use of funds.
16 individual online submissions were also received. This allowed for specific
comments to be made. This also allowed for those that did not want to select any of
the three options to provide comment about the proposal and to outline that they did
not support any rise if they so choose. A copy of each of the guestbook comments in
provided as Appendix 12.
A quick poll was also included on the site where participants were able to select from
the following three options:
Option 1: Rates to increase by 11.5% every year for 2 years (plus the rate peg)
Option 2: Rates to increase by 6.27% every year for 4 years (plus the rate peg)
Option 3: Rates to increase by 5% every year for 7 years (plus the rate peg)
The results were from 42 respondents. 45% selected the option 1, 24% selected
option 2, and 31% option 3.
7.5 Listening Posts
The feedback from listening posts showed that there was a high level of community
awareness of the rates proposal. A majority of those spoken to during the posts
advised that they had received a rates brochure in the mail. The majority of those
spoken to did not have an opinion either way about the rates proposal.
7.6 Media
The community are aware of the proposal and there are mixed comments on each of
the media online sites. This feedback has not been captured for this report as not
official submissions to the Council engagement process. Links to articles are
provided as Appendix 1.
7.7 Petition and Shoalhaven Independents Submission
A petition commissioned by the Shoalhaven Independents and a separate written
submission has been provided to Council.
44