Community
20 May, 2025
Stress about hike in rates
PENSIONERS have revealed they are living in fear and are stressed by a Cairns Regional Council proposal to increase rates substantially at seven retirement villages in the region.
Two representatives of The Parks retirement village at Earlville – Kevin McRae and Colleen Duplock – addressed Wednesday’s council meeting to respond to the plan to levy general rates on retirement villages and relocatable home parks which would increase rates by up to 800 percent from about $58 a year to more than $1000 a year per property.
Mr McRae said councillors had refused to meet residents and sent their chief financial officer to do the “heavy lifting” at meetings involving retirement village managers.
He said the CFO didn’t want to talk to residents because they asked too many questions which was treating them with “disdain and with arrogance”.
Mr McRae said the residents would be charged twice for roads, maintenance, street lighting and other services - first in the levy they paid to the village managers and secondly through rates.
Ms Duplock said councillors had rebutted requests to meet residents, had not bothered to reply or just sent a “cut and paste” letter.
She said the increases were taking their toll financially and mentally on residents.
“This proposal continues to instill much fear and stress in our village amongst residents,” Ms Duplock said.
“They fear they will not have enough funds to last their lifetime if the increases come about,” she said.
Ms Duplock said they were asking questions such as:
How long can I afford to live here?
Will my money last?
Will I have to leave?
“We may see significant mental health problems caused by a reduced quality of life,” she said.
“When older people have to cut back on essential services, such as healthcare, nutritious food, transport, we may see more hospital admissions or displacement of people who cannot meet the demands of increased rates .”
Ms Duplock said displacement woud also lead to “loss of social networks crucial to mental and emotional wellbeing”.
Council chief executive officer Ken Gouldthrope acknowleged the concerns and told councillors they must consider the council-like services already provided to residents.
“I understand the point of contention. There is a range of homes available inside those facilities,” he said.
“The question to council is in respect to the services provided to the residents.”
He said 8274 properties within the council area received pensioner concessions.
In comparison, there were 640 dwellings within retirement villages and relocatable home parks, or land lease communities (LLCs), of which a portion were occupied by pensioners, Mr Gouldthorpe said.
He said the vast majority of pensioners within Cairns Regional Council already occupied dwellings which the minimum general rate already applied.
