Community members are encouraged to attend the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART) Public Hearing, which is part of its review into water, sewerage and stormwater drainage prices for the Central Coast.

The Public Hearing is the final opportunity for the community to provide feedback to IPART before it releases its Draft Report and Determinations in April 2019.

Central Coast Council Director Water and Sewer, Bileen Nel said Council’s detailed submission to IPART reflected overwhelming community feedback that water, sewerage and stormwater drainage prices should be consistent across the region.

“In developing our submission for IPART our community consultation process saw 1,339 residents complete surveys and more than 1,260 attend face-to-face engagement activities,” Ms Nel said.

“Our recommendation would see average residential water bills decrease across the Central Coast by lowering the per kilolitre cost of water and significantly reducing the water service fee.

“Taking into account all elements of the water bill – water, sewerage and stormwater drainage – Council’s proposal would see typical residential bills reduced by between $27 and $245 annually.”

Ms Nel said aligning sewerage prices would see some customers pay less for this service and some customers pay more, with increases predominately offset by a reduction in the overall bill.

“The price paid for residential and non-residential sewerage services would decrease in the former Gosford local government area and would increase in the former Wyong local government area, but this increase will be offset by the lower water cost.

Council Director Roads, Transport, Drainage and Waste, Boris Bolgoff said Council had proposed to reduce the stormwater drainage charge for all existing residential customers across the Central Coast.

“Over 65 percent of residents surveyed indicated that stormwater drainage charges should be consistent across the Central Coast,” Mr Bolgoff said.

“Most Central Coast residents and businesses already pay a stormwater drainage charge and Council is proposing that this charge be applied to all rateable properties.

“A small number of non-residential customers currently do not pay any stormwater drainage charge and we are proposing that this change.

“Coucil believes that all residents and business should contribute to the maintenance and development of our stormwater drainage network as it delivers region-wide benefits.

“Stormwater drainage protects public and private property from flooding, enhances our natural assets and waterways, and helps to connect communities by supporting access to homes, schools and places of work.

“Very large non-residential/business properties would pay $5,427.81 annually under our proposal but it is important to note that this does not apply to the vast majority of farmland properties on the Central Coast.

“Non-residential farmland properties would qualify for a discounted Low Impact rate of $110.77 per year as long as more than 90 percent of their area is designated as agricultural, grassed or vegetated, which would be most farmland properties.

“We are investigating ways to make obtaining the Low Impact assessment as easy as possible for farmland customers by making it a one-off or automatic process.

For the proposed changes to stormwater drainage charges to come into effect they must be endorsed by IPART and Council must then obtain approval from the NSW Government to establish a new Drainage Area to cover all of the Central Coast local government area.

IPART will release its Final Report and Determinations for the Central Coast in late May 2019 and new water, sewerage and stormwater drainage prices will come into effect from 1July 2019.

The Public Hearing will be held on 27 November at 10am at the Mingara Recreation Club.

Community members wishing to attend the Public Hearing need to register via IPART’s website – ipart.nsw.gov.au.