Mayor Val Schier has vowed to bring back a rates discount if elected for a second term in office at the 28 April local government elections.

She said a discount of 5 per cent for bills paid on time would provide relief to families facing increasing electricity, grocery and fuel bills.

The discount was removed in 2008 on the advice of Council finance staff, however, the effects on the community had not been fully considered.

“The discount provided some relief to families, pensioners and business owners against ever rising costs and I am going to bring it back to help fight cost of living increases,” Cr Schier said.

“The past four years have shown me it is not possible to prevent rate rises – every Council across Queensland has had rate rises above CPI over this period.

“My Council has made millions of dollars in operational savings while maintaining our high standards of service in order to keep these rises to a minimum but the community is still hurting,” she said.

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The rates discount will be funded through savings created by Council’s recently completed voluntary redundancy program.

The program has reduced Council’s staff costs by over $4 million dollars per year.

“We have worked hard to make these savings without compromising services and I want to make sure this money goes straight back to ratepayers.

“The costs of providing our services keep going up but I want to insulate the community from this as much as I can. Bringing back the discount will help to achieve this,” she said.

Cr Schier warned against cutting services and projects in order to try and reduce costs even further.

“After four years of economic downturn during which time we have made unprecedented efficiency gains of over $20 million, there is not much more to cut. People need our services more than ever.

“We can’t be short-sighted and sell out the future of our region by cutting our important projects. Bringing back the rates discount will give us the balance between easing the cost of living pressures ratepayers are facing and investing adequately in our future.”