Armidale Regional Council (ARC) should not ignore the pleas of residents who are struggling to make ends meet. That’s why a 13% increase in the water access fee – much higher than inflation – seems unfair.
The alternative proposed below raises the same amount of money, benefits 92% of residents and would help us manage our current insecure water supply, as we face below average rainfall, a strong El Niño and the prospect of level 3 restrictions later this year.
Recent public consultations for Sydney and the Central Coast showed strong public support for low water access fees and higher usage charges. Regulator IPART listened and capped access fees at $98 (Sydney) and $229 (Central Coast). IPART’s decision had nothing to do with the size of these water utilities, or economies of scale. It was what residents wanted.
High access fees unfairly impact single person households, who are often pensioners and those on low incomes. The cost of maintaining water mains for a block of 4 or even 8 small units is no greater than the cost of maintaining them for a large house and garden on the outskirts of town. If anything, maintaining the longer service pipe run for a house on the edge of town will cost more, so why would anyone consider it fair for a block of 8 small units to pay $3,200 a year, compared to $400 for the house?
Our water supply is insecure. What really matters is coping with the upcoming drought and finding the funds to create a secure supply to meet our current and future needs. These costs depend on how much water we use, so ARC should consider the alternative proposal in the table below (labelled ‘Fairer’) that will raise the same amount of money, but reflect the strong public support for higher consumption and lower access fees.
The table below shows that 9,985 users (91%) consumed only 46% of the water ARC supplied in FY24/25. If the proposed charges go ahead, those users will be paying 73% more for the same service than in FY19/20, compared to a 54% for some high water users, depending on the size of their supply pipes.
The alternative sewer and water charges raise the same amount of money with slightly higher water consumption charges, while spreading the introduction of water and sewer access charges related to pipe diameters over 2 years to make the proposals more consistent with the NSW Government’s requirements for charges that are affordable, encourage conservation and remain reasonably stable over time.
The table below is based on detailed analysis and answers to many questions asked at council meetings to make sense of the available information. The oft-repeated claim that we need 4,312 ML/year despite not having used more than 2,400 ML in FY20/21, 21/22, 22/23, 23/24, 24/25 or 25/26 is hard to understand, as is the claim that ARC’s proposed access charge of $400 is comparable with other similarly sized towns. Evidence provided in this document shows that about 90% of councils with at least 4,000 water users have lower access fees and that the recent claim that “some provincial cities of similar size to Armidale have water access fees in excess of $700” appears to be factually incorrect.
Fairer charges now, that benefit 92% of residents and help manage an insecure supply is therefore the best option for our community.
| Annual usage category | No of users | Total kL | Estimated revenue ($000) | Increase since FY19/20 | Charge per kL used | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY19/20 | ARC proposal | Fairer | ARC proposal | Fairer | ARC proposal | Fairer | |||
| 0–320 kL | 9,985 | 1,103,579 | $5,114 | $8,844 | $8,374 | 1.73 | 1.64 | $8.01 | $7.59 |
| >320 kL | 965 | 1,289,167 | $4,563 | $6,547 | $7,039 | 1.43 | 1.54 | $5.08 | $5.46 |
| Large pipes | $630 | $349 | |||||||
| TOTAL | 10,950 | 2,392,746 | $9,677 | $16,021 | $15,763 | 1.66 | 1.63 | $6.70 | $6.59 |
The charges labelled ‘Fairer’ in the table are:
water access $300 plus half the proposed surcharge for large pipes; rateable properties: 0-40 kL/yr = $3.90/kL; all other treated water $5.30/kL; non-rateable properties: $5.30/kL; untreated water = treated water rate less 60 cents.
Alternative sewer charges are also proposed to smooth the transition to liquid trade waste fees for commercial properties proposed for FY27/28. Instead of a sudden drop in commercial sewer charges then a large increase, and postponing the reduction in residential sewer access until FY27/27, the alternative has an access charge of $550 for all users, retains the current additional charge for water closets and urinals until FY27/28 and halves the commercial sewer charge based on land values (ad valorem charge) to create a smoother transition to the liquid trade waste charges planed for FY27/28 after public consultation.
For further information on these proposals and the written Questions on Notice submitted to the 29 June ARC meeting, please see this document.
Cr Dr Dorothy L Robinson is an elected Armidale Regional Councillor and a former Principal Research Scientist specialising in statistical analysis, agriculture and genetics.
The above is a personal opinion and not the opinion of Council.
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