Community
14 March, 2025
800% increase
PENSIONER residents at a White Rock retirement village are shocked by a proposed 800 per cent general rate rise.
Cairns Regional Council wants to hike their rates at the Oak Tree Retirement Village from $9603 a year to $82,613.30 or about $21 a week per unit extra.
The council is changing their rating from ‘retirement villages (category R)’ into the same category as ‘multi-unit dwellings (category L)’. “This change aims to address inequities compared to other multi-dwelling properties and ensure that every dwelling makes a fair and reasonable contribution towards the infrastructure and services that council delivers,” the council says in a letter to residents.
The 100-plus residents of the 77-unit complex are fighting back but were not invited to a meeting involving Oak Tree managers, area councillor Cathy Zeiger and council chief financial officer Lisa Whitton to discuss the increase yesterday.
Residents’ spokeswoman Judy Holzheimer said retirement villages served a very different purpose and were unique.
“This has come as a shock,” she said.
Mrs Holzheimer said each unit occupier did not own their property but paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a ‘licence to occupy’ until they left Oak Tree.
“This is a very different situation from multi-unit dwellings where the resident either owns the unit or pays rent to an owner of the unit,” she said.
“Almost all residents of Oak Tree Retirement Village rely on the aged pension and most have no extra income from investments.
“Residents are responsible for the payment of a weekly service charge per unit which includes council general rates and water rates (calculated as the total rate levy divided by 77).
“Furthermore, because they own a licence to reside, they are not eligible for government rental assistance.
“The council’s proposed rate category change represents an 800 per cent increase in the general rate payable by the residents. This alone represents a 15 per cent increase in the weekly service charge for each unit that residents are required to pay.”
Mrs Holzheimer said $20.63 a fortnight might not seem much but, like the rest of the community, pensioners were struggling to survive.
“Many are living from pension to pension. We have a St Patrick’s night coming up and (husband) Alan, who is the treasurer, has been collecting $10 a head. Some have told him they can’t pay until pension day.”
Other residents Captain John Larsen and Margaret Richards said the rise was “disgusting”.
Cr Zeiger (Div. 3) said it was “a big shock and upsetting” for the residents but it also applied to all retirement villages in Cairns, including Aveo, Regis, Botanica and others.
But, she said, it was about fairness and equality.
Cr Zeiger said the rate restructuring had been on the backburner since COVID and in the recent cost-of-living crisis.
She said the villages had not been paying “proper rates” for quite a while and it was time they were brought into line with other multi-dwelling complexes. They would be paying the lowest rate applicable. Cr Zeiger said the residents were eligible for pensioner subsidies which amounted to $320 each a year and also there were payment options to make it manageable.
