Bathurst council wins fight over $28,000 dam levies proposal

In some good news, Bathurst Regional Council won't have to come up with almost $30,000 to pay a new dam levy.

It was reported in November 2020 that council had received notice from Dams Safety NSW of a proposed levy for owners of Declared Dams, which would allow the NSW Government to recover costs incurred to administer the NSW Dam Safety Act.

As the owner of two dams, Chifley and Winburndale, council would have had to pay approximately $28,000 per annum.

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At the time, councillors labelled the proposed levy a "cost-shifting exercise" and "daylight robbery", knowing there would be no benefit to council or water users after paying the levy.

Council formally objected to the levy and has since received positive news, with the CEO of Dams Safety NSW telling council in late June that the proposed dam safety levy would not be introduced this year.

This information was included at the July ordinary meeting of council and was welcomed by councillor Warren Aubin, who had been the most critical of the proposed levy last year.

"Good to see on this occasion that the cost-shifting has been retracted," he said.

Council had not allowed for the proposed levy in the 2021-22 budget, so had it been imposed, council would have had to find close to $30,000.

Senior staff said last year that council might have to recover the costs of the levy by way of additional charges to Bathurst town water supply customers.

Like Cr Aubin, director of corporate services and finance, Aaron Jones, welcomed the news that the levy proposal had been scrapped - for now, at least.

"It's actually a good outcome for us," Mr Jones said.

"It's something that we opposed when it was announced around November last year and so that's a good outcome in that space.

"Hopefully it stays that way, but we'll wait and see."

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