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Tasmanian councils need financial help

Tasmania’s councils are warning that they may need urgent financial help to cope with changes under the forestry peace agreement. Source: Yahoo7

Forestry Tasmania currently pays rates for land where it harvests trees, but councils fear that money will disappear when more forest is protected.

Twelve regional councils including Huonville, Dorset and Circular Head expect to lose a combined $2 million in rates each year.

The Local Government Association’s chief executive, Allan Garcia, said the money for projects under the peace deal may help in the long term, but councils will need more immediate support.

“I suppose from the federal perspective they’re taking a long term view,” he said.

“What we’re saying is there’s a short term perspective that has to be addressed and some of those areas like the Huon Valley, the east coast, and particularly the north-east, and Waratah-Wynyard, around those areas there’s going to be significant downturn.

“There already has been and those communities are bleeding.”

One of the peace deal signatories, Terry Edwards, said he warned governments that regional councils would be hit by a reduction in logging.

“We knew when we went into this process that this would be a result,” Edwards said.

“However, we believe it’s incumbent upon Government and local government to work together to mitigate the impacts that they will inevitably feel through the loss of rating income.”

Huon Valley Mayor Robert Armstrong said that if there is no help, councils will have to find the money elsewhere.

“If we don’t streamline services, or find somewhere, to save that money we’d have to increase the rates on top of our normal rates by that much and we don’t want to do that.

Edwards said that one way to help councils would be to continue paying rates when forest is protected.

“To me one of the obvious ones to consider is to look at a rate being applied to the reserve forest areas.”

“They’re being used for commercial activity in many cases through tourism or national parks who charge entry fees and there seems to me to be little reason to differentiate between those forests and the production forests being operated and maintained by Forestry Tasmania.”

Resources Minister Bryan Green said the State Government would consider providing extra funding to councils that lose revenue.