Proposed rate increase may impact businesses as winter hits

City of Launceston council have proposed a 4.5 per cent rate rise in their draft 2023-24 budget.

While cost of living increases Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief officer Will Cassidy said it would be an important time to support local small businesses.

"It depends on businesses lease type and if they pay the outgoings but most likely it will be an increase to the cost of doing business," he said.

"Businesses will have to either take on board and absorb or they may need to increase the prices of the services they offer which will be challenge."

Mr Cassidy highlighted the rate increase was well below the Consumer Price Index at 7.7 per cent.

"Increase to cost of living or cost of doing business is an impose," he said "But having that said the rate rise is not any where near as high as CPI."

Mr Cassidy said there are other challenges facing business this time of year, such as the impact of the quiet season during winter.

"What we are seeing with cost of living increases is discretionary spending has dropped," he said.

"Businesses that depend on discretionary spending, which a lot of our local businesses do, they're seeing a quieter trading time which is difficult and going into winter."

Winter and the increase use of energy was something in particular that concerned Mr Cassidy.

"Winter especially will be a challenging time for our small and medium local businesses," he said.

"We see increased energy usage in a lot of our businesses and the chamber is constantly concerned about the price of energy for small businesses.

"Winter is a quieter time for the CBD, so it will be good to see as many people supporting local businesses as they can during this time."

Other challenges include staff shortages and supply chain issues. Mr Cassidy said Launceston businesses are resilient and entrepreneurial.

"I imagine we'll see lots of ideas to generate business," he said.