myscreenname said..FormulaNova said..
Does no one see why we have this cost of living problem? Are we as a population just going to merrily go along until we realise that housing prices are just a ponzi scheme and now things are a little bit unfair for the current generation?
Instead of living a few blocks from the beach, maybe consider moving to a cheaper area a few suburbs away from the beach. That will help with the cost of living and your rate rise of 4.5%
I hope I don't come across as a bitter person like you are sounding. I am a generally easy-going happy person in real life, even though it may or may not come across online.
As for rates, the example was for a house I have in Katanning WA. I came across an older rates notice from 2022/2023 where they said that they were putting up the rates by 5.4% due to 'cost of living'. I think the theme is 'we will keep raising them ahead of inflation because we can'.
Still, I am happier with that than when I got a rates notice from Sutherland council in NSW. Their approach to Covid and all the job losses and problems people were having was written on their rates notice as something like "well, we know lots of people out there are doing it tough, but we can't help with anything, and you can contact these other government groups"... Which was doubly annoying when a work colleague did a sales pitch there and was told that "we have lots of money here to spend on IT at the moment".
As for rates where I am living, like most places it doesn't vary much across the entire area and is based on land value or rental value.
The point I was trying to make though was that if inflation is such a big problem, why are all these places outpacing it by increasing their costs in advance of inflation? Everyone seems to have their hands out 'because of inflation' but are actually causing it.