Freeze over: Melbourne to hike parking charges, fines and rates

Living and parking in Melbourne is set to get more expensive, with the City of Melbourne hiking rates and charges by 8.49 per cent after a one-year rate freeze.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece promised a “rate freeze” for one year when he was elected; however, it was only a one-year discount, with revenue from rates set to increase to $429 million, up from $394 million.

There will be an average rate rise of 2.75 per cent, following a full rebate on the previous year’s 3 per cent increase, with some of the increased revenue coming from an increase in apartments within the municipality.

“The bottom line is the cost of delivering the services and activities, the essential services that we deliver at the City of Melbourne have increased significantly,” Reece said.

The council will also increase parking fees and fines to balance the books in this year’s $804 million budget.

Parking fees across the city centre are going up, and revenue from them will increase by 23 per cent to $70.3 million this coming year, up from a budgeted $55.6 million last financial year.

The increases come despite Reece promising there would be no increase in on-street parking fees during the four years of his term.

The council will also bring in $42.8 million from parking fines, a 6 per cent increase on the $40.2 million revenue of last year.

When asked to account for his broken election promise, Reece said: “It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but the fundamental commitment that I made... was to run a tight ship at town hall and to be financially responsible.“

He added that the new $7.30 rate was significantly cheaper than private off-street parking, which can cost up to $20 an hour.

Revenue from waste management charges is forecast to increase by 18.2 per cent from $58 million to $69 million, but Reece said this was purely recovering increased costs.

Finance lead councillor Owen Guest, who described himself as a “fiscal hawk” and criticised the Mayor’s electoral promises, said it was much better to put fees up incrementally according to inflation, rather than “offering no fee increase... and then have to do it in a large way in years to come”.

The increases have enabled the council to forecast a $1.2 million surplus, marking a “hat trick” of three consecutive surpluses.

The City of Melbourne has managed to slash its forecast debt from a looming $275 million peak to $60 million by the end of the council term, with the aim of being entirely debt-free by 2032.

Guest revealed the council had been on the verge of hitting its legislative debt limit before an aggressive restructuring of capital works projects. Guest said expensive big-ticket construction projects have now been delayed, but nothing had been “struck off” the list.

The Lord Mayor also said that operational savings were also found by bringing work back “in-house” and reducing reliance on external consultants.

The budget will see double the number of “community safety officers” from 11 to 22.

Reece campaigned on crime and safety at the 2024 council election and pledged to institute a 30-person city safety officer team wearing Kevlar vests and with body cams.

Tuesday’s budget sees that vision almost 75 per cent complete in the second year of Reece’s term.

The cost of the new 11 officers is $1.7 million, adding to the $2.1 million allocated for the original officers.

For the first time, contracted mental health workers will also be patrolling the CBD at a cost of $1.1 million for 10 staff.

While they won’t be paired with the CSOs, they will be in contact with them, and each service will be able to call on the other to deal with rough sleepers or people in mental distress.

While the CSOs will be in-house staff, the mental health workers will be contractors.

The city is also boosting the number of CCTV cameras.

In the past year, it installed 100 new cameras, bringing the number to 450 across the CBD.

This year’s budget will see another 150 added, for a total of 600 cameras for $320,000.

Other initiatives include the introduction of food, organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste services into high-rise towers, and the extension of $2 weekday summer pool entry, free fitness classes in parks, and free summer swim lessons for residents, protected bike lanes on Exhibition Street and a mooted extension of Bourke Street Mall.

Reece said extending Bourke Street Mall was part of the council’s push to pedestrianise the city and would involve a review considering the section from Swanston up to Russell streets.

“It’s not without complication,” he said. “There are two laneways that are serviced from that stretch of road, but it certainly will be part of the review.”

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