General rates are set to rise 2.9 per cent following Noosa Council’s adoption of its 2021-22 budget at a Special Meeting held on Wednesday this week.
The minimum general rate rise of about $44 to an annual fee of about $1557 includes a 14 per cent increase in the Environment Levy of about $8, a 33 per cent increase in the Sustainable Transport Levy of about $7.50 as increase of $3.50 in the Heritage Levy and an additional Fire Management Levy of $10.
Special rate and levy increases include the new Tourism and Economic Levy of about $2,900, a 340 per cent increase to $220 of the Noosa Water Lock and Maintenance Levy and a 90 per cent increase in the Noosa Junction Levy to $175.
The draft $153 million budget that was ratified on Wednesday included Noosa’s biggest ever capital works program, with projects totalling $47 million.
Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart said state and federal funding contributions for a number of key projects had helped boost the capital program to become Council’s biggest ever.
“Big ticket items include the Tewantin Bypass stage one roundabout construction at $8.8m, $2 million to kick off the Noosa Parade corridor upgrade, $2.1 million to complete the new Peregian Beach Community House, and $7.5 million for seven bridge upgrades,” the Mayor said.
“This includes an initial $1 million towards the replacement of Garth Prowd Bridge at Noosa Heads, $1.47 million for the Lawnville Road Bridge at Black Mountain and $1.35 million for Kin Kin’s Wahpunga Lane Bridge renewal.
“In the hinterland we’ll spend $4.8 million to finish the Cooroy Hinterland Playground and just over $1.4 million to upgrade the Pomona section of the Noosa Trail Network.”
The draft budget includes a $5 million Road Reseal Program.
“Pomona’s the big winner in this year’s reseal program with School Street, Pottery Street and part of Pioneer Road all set for resurfacing,” the Mayor said.
“We’ll be resealing 500 metres of Pender Creek Road at Kin Kin and Camphor Road at Pinbarren, while closer to the coast we’ll reseal the remainder of Gympie Terrace and renew the stormwater culverts within the road corridor. Works will begin this year.”
There are funds set aside to fit-out Noosa’s brand new mobile library vehicle, and $1.09 million for restoration of the Noosa Spit dog beach.
“With all the planning complete, we are currently in the approvals process. The project will repair existing geo-textile bags and use sand nourishment to strengthen the shoreline to bring this much loved community asset back to life in 2021/22.”
In addition to big-ticket works, Council will roll out a raft of smaller projects.
“Local skaters will be pleased to hear we’ve set aside $350,000 to replace the metal skate ramp at the Sunshine Beach skate park with a brand new competition-grade ramp.
“We’ve allocated almost a million dollars to fill the missing links in our footpath network across the shire including Tewantin, Sunshine Beach, Castaways Beach, Noosaville, Pomona and Cooroy.
“These links were all identified as part of the Walking and Cycling Strategy we developed with community input over the past year. This is grass-roots spending at its best.”
Pathways connecting Maple Street, Overlander Avenue and the Bruce Highway overpass at Cooroy, as well as Moorindil Street, Poinciana Avenue and Toolar Street at Tewantin are among those to be built.
“We’ll also be upgrading the busy intersection of Doonella Street and Memorial Avenue at Tewantin to boost its capacity for the future.
“Importantly, we’re investing in forward planning to ensure we have designs and planning for future years’ capital projects ready to go to ensure a smoother and more streamlined roll out of new and replacement infrastructure in years to come.”
