DIGGERS REST residents who vote in Hume council elections could face a rate hike of 14.2 per cent if Sunbury becomes a separate shire.
Residents in Diggers Rest are separated by the Calder Freeway, with some residents in the Melton city area and others in Hume.
A report from accounting firm KPMG commissioned by Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell looked at the financial impacts if Sunbury was to secede from Hume.
The report, released last week, comes ahead of an October poll, when Hume residents will vote on the long-debated ‘Sunbury out of Hume’ question. The hypothetical Sunbury shire would include parts of Diggers Rest and Clarkefield, Bulla and Wildwood.
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Diggers Rest resident David O’Connor said if Sunbury was to become its own shire, there would be pressure for a boundary realignment so that all of Diggers Rest was included. “There’s 700-odd houses here in Diggers Rest now and another 4000 due to be built over the next 10 years,” he said. “Sunbury would therefore need or want to take on board that infrastructure within the new Sunbury council.
“I think everyone would have trouble paying the increased rates, but if the new municipality consumed all of Diggers Rest township the rate may not be as high.”
The KPMG report stated the process of forming a new Sunbury council would cost between $3.5 million and $4.4 million including legal costs, communications, information systems, employment and council elections. No decision on who will be responsible for these costs has been made.
The report stated revenue from the sale of any council fixed assets, including 50 hectares of land on Racecourse Road in Sunbury, would
be split 80:20 between the two councils, in favour of Hume.
