01 February 2008
Councils are starving Sydneys suburbs of vital community infrastructure by sitting on a $1.2 billion unspent fortune, according to Aaron Gadiel, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce.
Developers normally pay a contribution to local councils to cover the cost of community amenities needed by residents of new housing developments. This includes local roads, bridges, footpaths, kerbs and gutters, buildings and drainage infrastructure.
These local council levies have been skyrocketing every year. A home buyer could face an extra $47,000 for their own home just to cover local council levies, Mr Gadiel said.
Every levy a council slaps on new homes makes them more expensive for young families.
Instead of spending this money when its needed – councils have been throwing money at a few pet projects and then sitting on the cash.
Weve found local councils using levies on new homes to pay for fish cleaning facilities, cemetery upgrades and personal development classes local residents would never use.
Sutherland Shire Council uses its money to pay for fish cleaning facilities. Parramatta Council is levying home buyers to pay for cemetery upgrades. Baulkham Hills Shire Council is using its levies to build new facilities for personal development classes.
Camden Council wanted to tax home buyers to pay for council-run wellness and massage facilities, beach volley ball courts, yoga and Pilates facilities and media/sound studios.
Most people dont expect their councils to provide these kinds of services.
These charges have made it very hard for developers to build new Sydney homes.
Were backing new rules to be introduced, requiring local councils to spend developer contributions on new amenities in a much more timely way.
The State Government is right to intervene and get this money spent on whats needed.
The latest Treasury figures reveal that:
- Liverpool council is sitting on $68.4 million in developer levies;
- Blacktown council has $61.1 million;
- Sutherland Shire Council has $50.5 million idling away;
- Baulkham Hills has $29.3 million sitting unused;
- Eleven councils had between $20 million and $40 million; and
- Seventeen councils had between $10 million and $20 million.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
