By Tyler Wright
Cardinia Shire Council has told the Star Mail it reviewed and updated its financial hardship policy, including improvements to the format and readability, and also provided information to storm impacted residents following last year’s weather events.
This comes after new proposed legislation was introduced to the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday 8 June, which would prohibit councils using debt collectors or pursue legal action unless ratepayers refuse to engage and all other options have been exhausted.
“Financial hardship is defined in our guidelines on our website as experiencing difficulty paying the outstanding rates or charges due to a change in circumstances such as loss of employment, ill health, death in the family, natural disasters, family violence, marriage breakdown, gambling or substance abuse,” a Cardinia Shire Council spokesperson said.
“Council has also expanded the support to include properties other than residential.”
The Local Government Amendment (Rating Reform and Other Matters) Bill 2022 would ensure councils do not ‘revert back to pre-pandemic practices’, and continue ‘expanding their hardship policies to provide relief to those doing it tough’.
The Council spokesperson said affected residents were told they could “request a payment arrangement or short-term deferral” and “where severe impact has been confirmed” could submit an application for financial hardship assistance.
“If you are unable to live in your home or it is significantly damaged, you can request having the property value reassessed and amended as necessary, which may reduce the total rates and Fire Service Property Levy,” the advice read.
“If your house has been deemed uninhabitable, you can request consideration to waive waste service charges.”
This comes after the Ombudsman’s ‘Investigation into how local councils respond to ratepayers in financial hardship’ report found ‘people who were struggling to pay their rates were often meet with debt collectors, high penalty interest and in some cases costly litigation.’
