While Canberrans have long prided themselves on living in the best educated and most highly paid jurisdiction in the country, many will be wondering how much better off they are than the rest of the nation after July 1.
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That is date from which many of the increased fees and charges announced in this year's Territory budget begin to bite.
These include an average rate increase of seven per cent for homes and of 19 per cent for units. The average home owner will now face an annual bill of almost $2,300. The average unit owner is expected to pay $1352.
This compares less than favourably with neighbouring NSW councils, such as Yass and Queanbeyan, where State Government-imposed rate pegging regimes have been in place for many years.
Both have residential subdivisions specifically targeted at Canberrans frustrated by the national capital's soaring housing prices, and ever-increasing rates and charges for services such motor registration, drivers' licences, gas, electricity, water, sewerage and the like.
Five year drivers licenses will now cost $183.60, almost $14 more than the NSW equivalent and private vehicle registrations will rise to $1,141, again significantly more than across the border.
While NSW discounts five year licenses for drivers with a clean record by 50 per cent, the ACT only rewards careful motorists with 25 per cent off.
While the ACT Government is not the only authority jacking up its fees and charges; ActewAGL's electricity prices rise by 18.95 per cent on average from Saturday, the latest increases may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back for some.
Not everyone who lives and works in Canberra has the luxury of being on the median weekly income of almost $1000 a week. Many of our taxi drivers, retail workers, service station assistants, cleaners and hospitality staff would be lucky to gross 60 per cent of that.
What hope do they have of ever owning their own home in a community which has the second highest average monthly mortgage payments, of $2000, in the nation. Only Sydney is dearer.
Like the latest increases in fees and charges, the 10.4 per cent increase in real estate values that saw Canberra's median house price reach $705,059 earlier this year will create welcome revenue for the ACT Government.
But many hard-working Canberrans already feeling the strain of living in this increasingly expensive city may today be wondering how much further the cost of living increases have left to run?
Not all of the cost-of-living increases can be sheeted home to the ACT Government. It could be argued that many of these charges and costs are small, but their effect is cumulative and eventually, if they continue to go up, will push some to breaking point.
Balancing the need to invest for the future of our growing city and not burdening taxpayers with unaffordable grand schemes will always be a challenge in our relatively small jurisdiction. But the government could do worse than making a few more concessions for workers, many of whom haven't seen a pay rise in years. Canberra will only remain a great place to live as long as people can afford to do so.
