Newsletter 70 – Survey

Newsletter 70 – November 2025

Ladies and Gentlemen,

SPECIAL RATE VARIATION OPTIONS SURVEY

A few days ago, you would have received my Newsletter dealing with North Sydney Council’s finances and its plan to go ahead with an application to IPART for options for a Special Rate Variation of up to 54.2%.

• Council has now embarked on a survey seeking feedback on three proposed rate options to apply from 1 July 2026.

I have a rather jaundiced view of surveys, in part, because of an episode of the BBC’s “Yes, Prime Minister, For and Against”. If you have a few minutes, you can view it at Yes, Prime Minister.

What are those options for the size of the Special Rate Variation?

The options are for a total rate income increasing by:

1. the annual rate pegs allowed by IPART, assumed to be 4% in 2026/27, 3% in 2027/28 and 3% in 2028/29, producing a cumulative increase of 10.3%.
2. 20% in 2026/27, 10% in 2027/28 and 6% in 2028/29, producing a cumulative increase of 39.9% from 2029/30.
3. 23% in 2026/27, 15% in 2027/28 and 9% in 2028/29, producing a cumulative increase of 54.2% from 2029/30.

Note:

• The increases in rates are permanent.
• Options 2 and 3 add significantly to intergenerational inequity as future rates will be higher through the compounding effect. .

By way of an aside, the need for a Special Rate Variation is not readily apparent to me given that in the 12 months to 30 June 2025, Council produced an operating result from continuing operations of $15m, after meeting $9m of infrastructure maintenance expenses and deducting $30m for depreciation of assets.

Two sets of questions, 5 and 6 are key

Looking at questions 5

Question 5 is a multiple-choice question; it relates to the quantum of the rate with each allowing 5 possible responses.

The five possible responses are

For	Against
Very supportive	Not at all supportive
Supportive	Not very supportive
Somewhat supportive

It seems to me that having three options for “for” and 2 options for “against” raises the risk of a skewed result.

Looking at question 6; the sale of properties to finance amenities or repay debt

There are a couple of aspects of this question that caused me to pause.

First aspect – Why does the order of the questions on the survey published change from time to time?

Second aspect – Do the questions suggest an answer?

The questions posed by Council are:

The possible responses range from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree.

Would the result of the survey be different if a new question was added and a), b) and c) were changed in the following ways

Remember,

• The survey is available at https://yoursay.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/lets-talk-rates and can be completed without registering on Council’s “Your Say” website.
• If you would like to read the full survey before competing it visit https://www.ianmutton.com/north-sydney-council-2/
• All questions in the survey need to be answered, even for Business ratepayers. There is no space for additional comments/explanation, e.g. on your capacity or willingness to pay.
• If you have feedback about the rate increases that is not adequately captured by the survey, use the Submission form (with attachments if necessary) on the right-hand side of the survey page. This could be as an alternative or in addition to your survey response.
• If you want to estimate the effect of the three options on your rates, please use the Calculate your rates button at the top of the page before you access the survey.

The survey is:

• available on the Council’s website through the ‘Have your say portal’ and then Let’s talk … Rates’.
• to close on Wednesday 3 December. Council’s contractor Micromex may also be phoning a sample of residents with similar questions to supplement the survey.

Again, a copy of the survey is available at https://www.ianmutton.com/north-sydney-council-2/

Yours faithfully

Ian Mutton

Email:

www.ianmutton.com

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