Page 2297 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
expenditure areas will receive no funding to cover prospective price increases in 1991-92. Total payments under programs formerly funded by the Community Development Fund will be indexed in line with my commitment in 1989.
In line with the Government's determination to protect services to the community, we will be concentrating on making savings in administrative areas of the ACT Government Service. In particular, we will target areas where functions may be duplicated, or where the emphasis on functions has changed. High expenditure in the areas of departmental consultancies and travel was brought to Mr Kaine's attention by the Labor Party members of the Estimates Committee last year. We are proceeding with targeted cuts in those areas, and also in the government vehicle fleet.
On the capital expenditure side, this Government will re-examine the capital works program which was put together by the previous Government, to ensure that it matches our priorities. We believe that there is room to reduce the size of the overall program so that borrowings in later years are reduced to the bare minimum. This work will be carried out as quickly as possible so that the revised program can be referred to the Assembly committee on planning and infrastructure for its consideration.
On the revenue side, the previous Government had already decided on increases in fees and charges for 1991-92. Some, but by no means all, of these had been announced. Given the timing and budget constraints, my Government considered that it had no alternative in this area but to let the decisions stand.
As I mentioned before, we have set out to protect ratepayers, especially given the savage increases in municipal rates imposed by the previous Government. The Government has decided to present legislation for a general increase of 4 per cent, equal to the expected CPI increase next year. However, individual rates bills will be affected by the three-yearly land revaluation exercise carried out by the Australian Valuation Office. This will be used to calculate the rates and will affect the amounts individual ratepayers will pay. We are asking the Assembly to provide for future revaluations to be carried out on an annual basis, so that these changes are not as dramatic as they have been in the past.
The revaluations just mentioned will also impact on land tax collections in 1991-92. The Government is concerned about the impact of increases in land tax on business in the current economic climate, and accordingly has made no changes to land tax rates.
The combined impact of all decisions taken so far, as well as other adjustments to the budget figuring, is that the current budget gap stands at $34.6m. We are still a very long way from achieving a balanced budget. Because of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .