Fire reforms to hit farmers, business and rural residents most

Residents in some areas of the state could see their annual fire levy triple, while some businesses could see it increase by more than 600 per cent under reforms proposed by the state government.

"Certainly the costs to most individual ratepayers is going up as a result of the reform," said Dion Lester, chief executive officer of the Local Government Association of Tasmania.

"In some cases, as much as 500 or 600 per cent," he said.

He gave the example of one commercial property in the Kentish council, where the fire levy would increase from $80 per year to $687 under the reform.

Businesses in some areas could see fire levy increases of thousands of dollars, but would also benefit from the government's proposed abolition of the levy on commercial insurance.

Labor Franklin MHA Dean Winters said it was a mistake for the government to introduce what amounted to a significant tax rise during a cost of living crisis.

But Fire and Emergency Management Minister Felix Ellis has said the reforms are necessary, because the present system is not equitable, and does not provide stable funding to the state' emergency services.

Under the existing system, the fire levy is charged based on the location of a property and how the land is zoned, with rural and regional residents, which are not serviced by professional firefighters, typically paying a fraction of what urban residents pay.

Commercial insurance customers also pay a levy which funds the fire service, but many companies are able to avoid this.

The state government is now proposing to abolish the insurance levy and reform the council fire levy.

It has proposed two different options and has asked for public feedback by November 5.

In the government's preferred first reform option, Tasmanians across the state would pay one identical rate, based on how the land is zoned.

Under this option, residential ratepayers would pay 1 per cent of assessed annual valuation (AAV) of their properties - no matter where they live in the state.

This would mean some urban residents, including urban parts of Burnie City Council, which presently pay 1.4 per cent of AAV, would pay a lower fire levy.

But residents in Burnie's outer rural areas, such as Ridgely, that presently pay 0.31 per cent of AAV, would see their fire levy payment tripled.

There would also be a sharp jump in levy payments from rural residents of Waratah-Wynyard, which presently pay around 0.33 per cent of AAV.

In Break O'Day Council, residents pay annual fire levy of 0.37 per cent of AAV, or about $66 per year on average, according to Mayor Mick Tucker.

But it would triple to about $186 per year under the reform plan.

He said the levy increase for commercial property owners would be even more significant - as much as 632 per cent.

"So we are talking quite significant increases when you start talking up around 600 increase in commercial," he said.

"And when you take out the fire levy that business is paying on insurance, that business is still paying 100 to 200 per cent over the fee he pays now."

He said he agreed that emergency services needed to be fully funded.

"We very much support a very well funded emergency management system," he said.

"[But] we haven't got any idea of what they currently collect (from fire levies) and what they would collect under these two models.

"It looks like a massive increase in cash grab to fund it."

Under the government's second reform option, the levy rate would vary depending on whether the property was in an urban or regional area. Within that, the levy would also vary depending on zoning.