An extra eight parking rangers who will soon roam Canberra’s streets are expected to rake in millions of dollars in revenue from extra parking fines in the next few years.
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The government has announced funding for an additional eight parking inspectors to crack down on illegal parking in the territory’s suburbs in this year’s budget.
They will patrol government-operated car parks and on-road parking areas.
It is expected they will bring in more than $1.6 million in the next financial year, and $2.8 million in the 2015-16 year.
The prospect of more parking fines is just one of the fee increases set to cause pain in the hip pockets of Canberrans. The government has forecast revenue from parking fees will jump from $13.7 million this financial year to $17.8 million in the next financial year.
That will be largely due to parking fee increases that come into place in July.
Treasurer Andrew Barr said some fees and taxes had to rise from July to help fill the gap from lost federal government funding and to meet the cost of providing services.
“The government has sought to keep these increases to a minimum and has taken most of the impact of the Commonwealth cuts directly to the budget bottom line.”
Householders will feel the pinch from an average 10 per cent rise in rates and a 5 per cent increase in water charges.
The ACT government estimated a single-income family with an annual household income of $45,000 would pay $445 more to keep their car on the road and stay licensed, due to increased licence and vehicle registration costs.
A boost in the price of motor vehicle registration will see revenue from the fees jump from $109 million to $113.7 million in the next financial year.
Canberrans will have to pay more for automatic fire alarm callouts which turn out to be false alarms, with fees set to jump from $750 to $1250.
The fees will also be expanded to cover repeated avoidable callouts to the same building that have been caused by human actions.
However, many Canberra businesses are expected to benefit from an increase in the payroll tax reform threshold. It will will jump from $1.75 million to $1.85 million from July 1.
The government estimates the change will mean businesses with a payroll of $2 million will save $6850 a year.
It is expected that about 40 businesses will no longer be subject to payroll tax.