By Cr Rochelle Halstead

The State Government has passed the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) which will replace the Fire Services Property Levy.

This fund will extend support beyond fire services to include agencies like SES, Triple Zero Victoria, and Emergency Management Victoria. The proposed changes have already attracted significant media attention, highlighting growing concern about their potential impact - particularly in regional communities like ours. 

We all support our emergency services. Our volunteers and first responders are the backbone of regional communities like ours. We rely on them in our most difficult moments - during storms, fires, floods, and accidents and they deserve secure and sustainable funding.

But the way this new fund is being implemented is deeply flawed. It unfairly shifts the financial burden onto regional communities like Bass Coast and transfers the responsibility of collecting the levy from the State Revenue Office to local councils.

For us in Bass Coast, the cost to our ratepayers is staggering - an estimated $5.52 million increase every year. That's a 53 per cent jump, far above the state average. The impact on our farming community is even more severe, with increases of up to 150 per cent, or around $1260 more per farm on average - almost double the hike facing most other Victorian farmers.

This places an unfair burden on the very people who often volunteer to keep the rest of us safe.

And instead of the State Revenue Office collecting the levy, that task will fall to local government. Councils like Bass Coast are now expected to act as tax collectors - without the systems or resources to do so.

At our May Council Meeting, Bass Coast Shire Council unanimously resolved to call out the unfairness of this levy. Cr Meg Edwards spoke strongly in support of the motion, which highlights:
  The excessive cost to our ratepayers
  The reputational and administrative risk to councils
  The urgent need for transparency and clear communication from the state
  The necessity of hardship provisions for vulnerable residents
  And the importance of the State Revenue Office remaining responsible for levy collection

We will continue to advocate through local MPs and peak bodies like the Municipal Association of Victoria. Our community deserves better, and we won't stop pushing for a fairer solution.