LOCAL farmers, in particular, are going to be slugged thousands of dollars more on their rates notices this year.

The owners of commercial and industrial land, and to a lesser extent, homeowners, will also be harshly dealt with.

But neither the Bass Coast Shire Council Mayor Cr Rochelle Halstead nor former South Gippsland Mayor Cr Nathan Hersey is prepared to cop the flack.

Speaking on the same day last Wednesday, at their respective council meetings, Cr Halstead and Cr Hersey chose different but equally effective ways to put the pressure back on the State Government over a dramatic hike in the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF), formerly the Fire Services Levy (FSL).

Cr Halstead vacated the chair at last week’s meeting to argue for two motions to be put at the Municipal Association of Victoria’s (MAV) State Conference on May 16, 2025, including:

“The Municipal Association of Victoria calls on the State Government to assume direct responsibility for collecting the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF), ensuring a more streamlined and efficient process for all stakeholders.”

Cr Hersey moved that the shire immediately write to the Premier of Victoria, the Treasurer of Victoria, the Victorian Minister for Local Government and to our local Victorian Parliamentary representatives formally objecting to collecting the new state government tax and making five key points about the levy, including that it unfairly targeted regional communities, particularly Victorian famers.

They’ve both declared that it is no longer appropriate, likely not even possible, for local councils to continue collecting the controversial levy.

According to recent reports, the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund is set to increase by a whopping $616 million in 2025-26, raising the total collected across the state from $1.033 billion to $1.649 billion for the cash-strapped Victorian State Government.

It will take an additional $5.2 million from South Gippsland Shire ratepayers alone.

An 80.5 hectare grazing property, for example, presently on the market at Tarwin Lower for $2.9 million, which previously attracted a Fire Services Levy of $1108 on last year’s rates notice, will see a rise to $2683 this year – more than double!

Commercial dairy farmers in the region could be expected to pay $5000 or more just for the emergency services levy alone.

Cr Hersey said he believed the new tax, to replace the FSL, had been “introduced by stealth”, without consultation leaving local councils ill-equipped to differentiate between general ratepayers and active emergency service volunteers and life members, who won’t be required to pay the levy on their principal place of residence (farm or house).

“That’s not something that our system will even manage. So, we’re looking straight away at costs involved in upgrading our IT systems, and also, an additional burden on our staff who would be required to input that data, likely manually,” he said.

“The turnaround time for this to be implemented is by July this year, which is an extremely short turnaround, again, without consultation with local communities.”

In a cost-of-living crisis, he said the increase in tax could tip more people over into applying for special circumstances rate relief.

“This is a very significant tax that’s going to impact rural and regional communities a lot more than other areas of the state, mainly metropolitan areas. All properties in South Gippsland will be affected, but our farmers would be disproportionately impacted as the fund comes into effect in South Gippsland, mindful that 80% of our workforce is directly employed in agriculture, and we have the most registered agricultural businesses out of any local government area.”

Cr Hersey said the district’s farmers were already contributing strongly to the economy and its food and fibre needs, but despite the value of farmland, their operations weren’t overly profitable.

Cr Halstead said she feared the community would blame local councils for doubling the emergency services levy when it was all the state government’s doing.

“This is a critical notice of motion that I think the whole local government sector is going to get involved in. We are going to be sending out our rate notices very soon, and on those rate notices, the fire services levy will be doubled,” said Cr Halstead

“This is not something that this council has imposed upon our community. This is a state government charge, an increase in their charges that is going out on rate notices in Bass Coast, which I believe gives our community the impression that it is one of our increases.”

Cr Halstead said it was an attempt to use local government as a shield, while hitting ratepayers with an additional tax. She said state government supplied the levy data to councils when they could just as easily collect the levy themselves.

“The local government sector feels very strongly about pushing back on this, and I really hope that this council will come out loud and strong on this,” she said.

As well as moving a motion calling on the State Government “to assume direct responsibility for collecting the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund”, Cr Halstead will also be taking forward two other motions to the MAV’s state conference, one calling on the government to accept responsibility for action on coastal erosion and to urgently review the Development Facilitation Program via which they are taking control of and fast-tracking local development applications.

Cr Halstead and Cr Hersey were recently elected chair and deputy chair of Gippsland’s peak government advocacy body, One Gippsland, with Cr Halstead also nominating for a seat on the Board of Directors of the MAV.