Recent flooding events and growth have prompted Bland Shire to follow the lead of other Councils and introduce a stormwater levy for local residential and business properties.
The annual levy will be used to improve and expand existing and future drainage systems within the Bland Shire as well as stormwater management planning including conducting information programs and monitoring systems.
The levy was formally adopted at Council’s July meeting and set at a modest $25 per residential property, $12.50 for strata titles and $50 for business properties over 350 square metres and will be included in upcoming rates notices. The charge will only apply to properties within Bland Shire’s towns. Rural and farming properties will not receive the levy.
Bland Shire’s recent growth, combined with above average rainfall, has resulted in a significant increase in the volume of stormwater flowing into urban waterways. As well as contributing to flooding, these increased flows can mean a large amount of litter, sediment and chemicals can be washed into waterways.
Stormwater can be simply defined as the rainfall that runs off all urban surfaces such as roofs, pavements, carparks, roads, gardens and vegetated open spaces. Stormwater management is the management of these flows off a parcel of privately owned and developed urban land.
“It is anticipated that through the funds raised from the introduction of the Stormwater Management Charge that identified areas where issues occur, such as localised flooding, steps will be taken to address the problems,” Council’s Director of Community and Corporate Services Alison Balind said.
“To facilitate this, Council will need to update its Stormwater Management Plan to include data relevant to the areas which it will serve. The current plan was developed some time ago and does not take into account developments within Bland Shire communities over recent years.
“While flooding issues in North, Brown and Kurrajong Streets have already been identified in the previous plan, any future work undertaken would need to be incorporated into the revised plan. It would also require a significant amount of planning and infrastructure work to be undertaken to mitigate flooding as a result of stormwater – which is why it is critical for Council to be in a position to fund both the planning for and implementation of such projects.”
