The ESVF replaced the previous Fire Services Property Levy on Tuesday, July 1, resulting in an increase to the variable rate across four property types.
For industrial land, property owners will now be charged 133 cents per $1000 of their property’s capital improved value, compared to the 81.1 cents of the FSPL.
Commercial landowners will pay the same rate, an increase of 66.6 cents to the variable rate from the previous tax.
State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said the ESVF would be an enormous financial pressure on ratepayers across the region.
“In Benalla, ratepayers are now set to fork out 81 per cent more under this new tax. In Strathbogie, it’s even worse — a staggering 91 per cent increase,” Ms Cleeland said.
“This is not just a tweak to the system. This is a brutal cash grab from regional households, farmers and small businesses already doing it tough.”
The Victorian Government has indicated that the ESVF would fund 90 per cent of FRV’s budget, and 95 per cent of CFA’s and VICSES’s budgets.
The ESVF is also intended to fund up to 95 per cent of the annual budgets of:
- Triple Zero Victoria
- Emergency Management Victoria (including the State Control Centre) and responsibilities for emergency management within the Department of Justice and Community Safety (including Emergency Recovery Victoria)
- Forest Fire Management Victoria and its support functions within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Ms Cleeland said she felt there was a lack of clarity about where exactly the funds collected for the ESVF would be going.
“Every single person who pays rates will be hit by this tax, but the real sting is felt in our country towns, where residents are already volunteering their time with the CFA and SES,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Many of these same volunteers are now being forced to pay hundreds or even thousands more in rates, all while the services they support are stretched thinner than ever.
“The worst part is that regional communities are footing the bill while getting no say, no certainty and no guarantee that this money will flow to front-line services in their area.”
A government spokesperson said the ESVF was put in place to directly benefit the state’s emergency services.
“We are making sure our emergency services have the sustainable funding and equipment they need to keep Victorians safe and to recover from bushfires, floods and storms,” the spokesperson said.
“Every single dollar raised by the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund goes back into our emergency services — as enshrined in legislation.
“Because our emergency services volunteers give our state so much, eligible CFA and VICSES volunteers and life members will be able to access a rebate, administered by the Department of Government Services.
“This levy — introduced originally by a Liberal/National Government — has been collected by councils for years. It is collected in the rates notices that councils already send out annually.”
Ms Cleeland said that a coalition government would scrap the tax.
“We will scrap this unfair tax, reinstate the Fire Services Property Levy, and make sure that funding for emergency services is delivered transparently through the state budget,” she said.
“Our rural communities deserve better than to be punished for where they live.
“They deserve a government that supports them, and not one that keeps coming back to squeeze more from their rates notices.”
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