A RIVERLAND council will let its residents and businesses defer rates for three months to assist the community through the current COVID-19 crisis.
Renmark Paringa councillors passed a motion at its April general meeting to implement a Rates Hardship Policy, allowing ratepayers experiencing difficulty from the coronavirus outbreak to defer council rates for a quarter.
Renmark Paringa Council director of corporate and community services Tim Pfeiffer said the measures would soften financial impacts for those affected by COVID-19.
“The policy allows ratepayers to defer payment on their rates, without fines or interest, for a three-month period,” Mr Pfeiffer said.
“It relieves some of the immediate pressure off people who are struggling due to COVID-19.
“We’re also waving fines and interest on unpaid rates between April 1 and June 30… we think it’s relevant to do at the moment, and something we can do to relieve pressure off people.”
As part of the hardship policy, lease and licencing fees for community and sporting organisations would also be waived from April 1 to June 30.
Mr Pfeiffer said a fall in patronage due to coronavirus restrictions meant it was necessary to support local sporting clubs.
“We do have large sporting organisations, like football and netball clubs, who need to have use of those facilities to generate income,” he said.
“When they’re not able to use them, it’s going to be extremely hard for them… these are community organisations and it’s not like they have big nest eggs.”
Renmark Paringa Council chief executive officer Tony Siviour said council had also shortened the length of time it would take to pay creditors.
“Our general payment terms for our creditors are 30 days, however we normally pay well within that period of time,” Mr Siviour said.
“Now we’re documenting the fact that it will be within 14 days.
“It’s not just about council ensuring our cash flow, it’s about our part in the local economy as well.”
Mr Pfeiffer said policies regarding the COVID-19 emergency would be assessed by council on a three-month basis.
“It is a brand new rates hardship policy, we’ve never had one before,” he said.
“It does have a short timeframe for review and we will be coming back to review this in July.
“We don’t know where South Australia is heading at the moment… we’ll come back in three months’ time and review that policy, including the specific provisions related to COVID-19.”
Mr Pfeiffer said the measures would assist the community while also ensuring council can meet State Government expectations to remain operational.
“We do run essential services and we’ve been told by the State Government that we’re expected to keep operating,” he said.
“There has been changes to some of our services… (but) we’re trying to keep normality as much as possible so we can keep delivering as much as we can.”