Port Macquarie-Hastings Council regularly commissions random resident surveys, most recently in May this year. Of the 800 residents contacted, more than 90 per cent said they are satisfied with the local lifestyle in terms of housing, safety, accessibility and amenity.

More than 90 per cent also said they rely on council to deliver services which contribute to a healthier and fairer society – in addition to the traditional areas of ‘roads, rates, rubbish’.

About two-thirds of those surveyed said council should spend a little, or a lot more, on local services while the remaining one-third felt council’s current spending was about right.

The services people mainly wanted more council investment on were: roads and transport infrastructure – such as footpaths and cycleways, stormwater and environment and natural resource management.

With those results in mind, council is now consulting the community on two future rate scenarios. 

You can get information and have your say at http://pmhclistening.com.au/rates

In question is the Special Rate Variation, in place since 2012, which is due to expire. The SRV has delivered around $1.7 million per year to council, for use solely for maintenance of both sealed and unsealed roads.

Scenario 1 abandons the Special Rate Variation and the roadworks it has funded, and would mean an average reduction of $15.20 on the general rates charge for 2017-2018.

Scenario 2 continues the existing SRV and the roadworks it has funded, and would mean an annual increase of around $28.70 on the average general rates per property.

The SRV has allowed council to start to get ahead of the road maintenance backlog, and for that reason I personally support its continuance. Please let the council know if you want the SRV to continue.

These are Cr Intemann’s opinions and not necessarily those of the council.