REDLAND'S 66,000 ratepayers have been delivered one of the toughest budgets since 2001, with an average rating increase across the city of 6.09 per cent.
For house owner occupiers on the mainland, the average rate rise will be 6.5 per cent, which equates to a rise of $152 a year or about $3 a week.
Charges will remain steady with the waste charge falling, the environmental charge remaining unchanged and the landfill remediation charge increasing.
An average mainland property valued at $370,000, under the new site valuation method, can expect to pay about $1809 in the 2011-12 financial year in rates.
That bill includes a general rate of $1395.29, up from the previous year of $1263.31, a 10.4 per cent increase.
It also includes an environment levy of $109.80, which did not change from the previous year, and a landfill remediation charge of $42.40, up from last year's $39.
For an average mainland property, rubbish, waste and recycling charges, which were about $299 in 2010-2011, will drop 12.4 per cent to $262 a year.
Commercial rates will rise 11.5 per cent, less than the 17.5 per cent increase tipped in preliminary budget forecasts.
The council has a total operating revenue of $150.6 million, down from a projected $163 million with total operating expenditure of $136 million, resulting in an operating deficit of about $20.2million over the next financial year.
The deficit is expected to become a $3 million surplus by 2014, the third year of the council's 10-year strategy.
The $220.6 million budget includes a $49million capital works program, a reduction in tip fees, $4million to repair Raby Bay canal walls, $630,000 for koala programs and $620,000 for waterways programs.It also includes $1.2million for an interim upgrade of the Weinam Creek car park and $3.2million for additional sections of the Moreton Bay Cycleway.
Southern bay islands did not miss out with allocations including $4 million for projects such as the land exchange program, upgrading Jock Kennedy Park and $3.2 million to seal roads.
Mayor Melva Hobson, delivering her fourth budget, said Queensland Government moves to cap the retail price of water for the next two years and cap infrastructure charges had put a $12 million dent in the council's forecast revenue.
Cr Hobson said the council was able to make $10 million in savings after extensive "internal" belt-tightening since April, which included 18 voluntary redundancies.
She said the average rating increase of 6.09 per cent was less than the local government CPI of 7.5 per cent and blamed part of the rate rises on increased land valuations from the Department of Environment and Resource Management.
"About 97 per cent of people on the mainland, across the board, will pay less than $3 a week more and of that, 88 per cent will pay less than $2 a week extra," the mayor said.
"The council's debt will be about $59 million and is about $870 per property.
"We know our ratepayers face increasing costs of living, so our driving goal this year has been to minimise the impact of rates and charges on households and businesses," Cr Hobson said.
The council has also changed its special charges program for canal and lake estates and increased its pensioner concession.
The 5700 ratepayers who receive the maximum pension will get a $330 concession and the 3500 ratepayers who get a part pension will get a $165 rate reduction.
The council also changed the way it presented its budget after amendments to the Local Government Act 2009 in March to allow councils to compare ratings changes.
* The council's 6.09 per cent headline rate, which is the percentage change to the total rates bills across the city compares with a 1.10 per cent increase in Brisbane and a 7.28 per cent increase at the Gold Coast and a 5.79 per cent increase at Moreton Bay Regional Council.
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