At its meeting on 14 March 2023 Council will consider options for separating waste service charges from general rates.

Council is not considering the introduction of a new tax. This meeting will not consider changes to kerbside waste collection frequency.

Separating what residents pay for waste services from the general rates and listing this as a separate line item on their rates notice allows Council to be more transparent.

This work will be overseen by the Essential Services Commission. The Essential Services Commission monitors and reports on councils that introduce new service charges to ensure that the rate cap is working as intended. 

Yarra is the last council in the State to make this change.

Seventy-six councils in Victoria have already separated waste service charges and two others have resolved to.

A decision is yet to be made on this proposal.

We are aware of the spread of misinformation including recent reports on A Current Affair and The Today Show.

We ask our community to rely on the facts provided by Council as the reliable source of information.

Following the outcome of the March 14 Council meeting, we will continue to update our community on all matters related to the separate waste charge through Council communications channels.

For questions, please email [email protected].

The meeting agenda for the Tuesday March 14 Council Meeting including the proposal to separate waste service charges from general rates has been prepared and can be viewed online on our Council Meeting page.