Canal and lake funding and maintenance | Redland City Council
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Canal and lake funding and maintenance

Redland City Council on 25 June 2018 adopted its 2018-19 Budget, which includes a move away from special charges for canal and lake properties, and the introduction of new rating categories for Raby Bay canal properties to fund revetment wall repairs in the estate.

In addition, Council will pay for all dredging at the city’s canal and lake estates.

Council will also pay for 10 per cent of the cost of works on revetment walls at Raby Bay, which reflects slightly more than the percentage of revetment walls that are owned by Council, bordering public facilities such as parks.

Council will continue to manage the canals and lake maintenance programs, including revetment wall repairs. This provides residents with assurances that revetment walls will be fixed should problems arise.

Currently there is no programmed expenditure for revetment wall works in Aquatic Paradise or Sovereign Waters, where traditionally there is very limited or no revetment walls works required.

Further information about the Budget can be found on Council’s website by clicking here.

A media release is here.

The decision follows citywide community consultation that included Redlands Coast first Citizens’ Advisory Panel. The rates generated from these new rating categories will fund revetment wall works in 18/19 at Raby Bay.
There is no revetment wall work scheduled for 2018-19 for Aquatic Paradise or Sovereign Waters. Historically there is no or limited revetment wall work in these estates. Emergency works will be carried out by Council should work be required in these estates this financial year. In future years, differential rates could be introduced for revetment wall repairs in these estates if it is determined that these are required – annual operational and capital works programs will determine this.
The community owns less than 10% of revetment walls at Raby Bay so Council is funding 10% of the walls as its contribution from the whole of the community. These revetment walls border public facilities such as parks.
Council listened to representations from Raby Bay Ratepayers Association and individuals who wanted Council to continue to manage revetment wall repairs. This was part of extensive community engagement. With Council managing the maintenance there is assurance that repairs will be completed if required and not left to individual property owners’ discretion.
Council will collect the monies required to undertake the 2018-19 scheduled revetment wall repairs through general rates. The works have been scheduled and costed as part of Council’s operational and capital works programs. The expenditure will be funded through general rates: 90% contribution from Raby Bay rating categories and 10% from the whole of the community.
Email rcc@redland.qld.gov.au or call us on 3829 8999.

Canal and lake refunds received

Canal and lake front property owners at Raby Bay, Aquatic Paradise and Sovereign Waters have received their refund cheques.

If you owned property in Raby Bay, Aquatic Paradise or Sovereign Waters between July 2011 and March 2017 and have not provided Council your current address, please email it, address details of the canal or lake property that you owned, and the duration of ownership, to rcc@redland.qld.gov.au

Frequently asked refund questions

Q. How were the refunds calculated?
A. Council engaged an external firm to undertake this body of work. The methodology can be found in the BDO Allocation of Unspent Funds Report. A BDO Revisions Note is available.

Q. Why are there multiple names on my cheque?
A. Council has issued refunds to the registered owners of the properties. Sometimes that means there are two or more names on the cheque.

Q. Can Council re-issue the cheque in my name only?
A. Council cannot re-issue cheques to one individual at the request of one property owner.

Q. Are all canal and lake property owners getting a refund?
A. Not all property owners will be getting refunds. Refunds depend on the length of time of property ownership and amount of works undertaken by Council in any of the financial years of ownership.

Citywide community consultation

Council has completed citywide community engagement around the best way to manage and fund the maintenance required for our city’s canals and lakes.

At the General Meeting of Council on Wednesday, 6 June 2018, Council noted the canal and lake community consultation reports.

Changes to canal and lake special charges 

The refunds of canal and lake special charges follow a review by Council of compliance with the requirements under the relevant legislation after which Council took the pro-active step to refund the unspent charges collected.

Analysis by an independent consultant involved the review of records back to 2011-12 for more than 1200 properties.

It is important to note that the decision to refund unspent collected monies does not affect special charges collected for services or activities for other areas of the city, as the charges being refunded were collected from canal and lakefront property owners and reserved specifically for work on canals and the lake, such as dredging, cleaning and repairs to revetment walls.

Discussions on the best way to manage and fund ongoing maintenance of the canals and lake have already commenced with stakeholder groups and will be rolled out citywide in the coming months.

Council adopted 12-month Special Charges for the city’s canal and lakefront properties for 2017-18.

In March 2017 Council announced it would refund unspent monies that had been collected for canal and lake maintenance and repairs since 2011-12 but to date had not been applied towards the relevant services and activities.

Council also advised it would temporarily cease the canal and lake Special Charges for the last quarter of 2016-17 (April-June 2017) and, subject to future budget deliberations and Council resolution, there may be new Special Charges allocated to canal and lake-front property owners in the 2017-18 year.

The new Special Charges have been included in the 2017-18 Budget brought down on 26 June 2017.

The new 2017-18 canal and lake special charges have been carefully and independently reviewed prior to adoption. 

Council will continue to roll out the scheduled canal and lake maintenance works for which these special charges have been collected.

The former Special Charges were ceased earlier in 2017 after Council proactively determined the charges levied between 2011-12 and 2016-17 may have been deficient in adhering strictly to legislative requirements, such as not properly stating the estimated costs of carrying out the works or timeframe.

The refund and temporary suspension of the Special Charges are a result of Council's review of the processes it has followed to levy the Special Charges against the requirements for levying Special Charges as set out in Chapter 4, Part 6 of the Local Government Regulation 2012.  Council determined that there had been some unintentional errors in its processes, particularly in relation to the content of the overall plans.  While, on one level, these are only procedural type errors (e.g. not properly stating the estimated costs of carrying out the overall plan), Council has determined to proactively address them.

Further information