‘Our 4.1 per cent rates increase includes 0.9 per cent for their rises,’ Cottesloe chief executive Carl Askew said.
Adopting the budget last week, councillors cited the cost of rubbish disposal rising from $27 to $55 per tonne, and building rubble fees rising $32 to $40 per tonne at landfill sites after January 1, while the cost of street lighting will go up 5 per cent in 2014/15, and 36.8 per cent in 2015/16.
Mr Askew said no spending or projects were cut back to deal with the increased costs.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘We were very fortunate to have an initial rates increase of just 3.1 per cent,’ he said.
Another 0.1 per cent of the increase was blamed on increased costs in areas such as superannuation.
Funded projects for 2014/15 include $300,000 for improving the town’s retail centre with new street lighting, bollards and bike racks.
But any windfall from the proposed sale of the Station Street car park is not currently linked to more work in the shopping strip centred on Napoleon and Station streets.
Councillors added a last-minute rise to their budget charges, after the Government sent late changes to the Building Act.
Mr Askew said the changes were ‘relatively minor’, comprising CPI increases of $2 added to $90 fees, 25c on top of a $10 fee and $40 extra for a $2000 fee in the Act’s list of charges.
The budget includes a $27,000 allowance for Mayor Jo Dawkins.
She said she was unsure if she would accept her pay rise.
‘I haven’t given it any thought as it’s simply not the reason I am on the council,’ she said.
The rate in the dollar will be 5.263c for homes and vacant blocks, while the weekly 120-litre bin collection is $295 a year, and $40 extra for both the recycling and green waste collections.