Politics
Northcote Council Votes on Housing Levy and Road Maintenance Budget: Who Pays More and Who Gets Relief
Monday night's session produced four binding votes that will raise costs for some property owners while directing new spending toward the Greenfield Road corridor and community health services.
How we reported this
Northcote City Council passed four motions at its July 7 ordinary meeting that will directly reshape how residents pay for infrastructure and which neighbourhoods receive service upgrades over the next financial year. The most contested vote, carried 7 to 4, approved a 3.2 percent increase to the municipal infrastructure levy effective from the August rates notice. Owners of commercial properties in the central business precinct face the steepest rise, with the average increase calculated at roughly $340 per annum on a median-assessed commercial site. Residential ratepayers on the standard general rate will see a smaller average increase of $78 annually, according to the council's own budget impact statement tabled before the vote.
The timing matters. Northcote's infrastructure reserve sat at $2.1 million at the close of the 2024-25 financial year, well below the minimum $4 million threshold recommended in the council's own 10-year asset management plan. Two footbridge inspections along the Northcote Creek Trail, completed in May, rated both structures as requiring remediation within 18 months or face closure under the council's public safety policy. The levy increase is projected to raise an additional $1.6 million in the current fiscal year, which council officers say will fund the bridge work and begin resealing 4.3 kilometres of residential streets flagged as high-priority in the 2025 pavement condition survey.
Greenfield Road and the Community Health Centre: Where the Money Goes
Residents in the Greenfield Road corridor, particularly those north of the Elmsworth intersection, stand to benefit most from the new spending. The 2025 pavement condition survey rated a 1.8-kilometre stretch of Greenfield Road as the single worst-scoring arterial segment in the municipality, with a pavement condition index of 38 out of 100. Council voted 9 to 2 to prioritise that reseal in the first quarter of the new financial year, meaning construction is expected to begin by October 2026. Businesses and households on that stretch had submitted 47 formal complaints about road conditions between January and June this year, the highest for any single street in the council's complaints register.
A separate motion, passed unanimously, allocates $420,000 to extend operating hours at the Northcote Community Health Centre on Dellwood Avenue. The centre currently closes at 5 p.m. on weekdays and does not open on Saturdays. Under the new allocation, the council says the centre will operate until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will trial Saturday morning sessions from September. Local health advocates note that working-age residents without flexible employment have historically struggled to access the centre's general practice and mental health services. The extended hours are expected to add capacity for approximately 1,200 additional appointments annually, based on utilisation modelling prepared by the council's health services unit.
What Misses Out and What Happens Next
Not every proposal made it through. A motion to allocate $290,000 for a new off-leash dog area in Northcote Reserve was deferred to the September meeting after council officers reported that an environmental impact assessment, required under the council's own open space policy, had not yet been completed. Residents who submitted to the 2025 community consultation on open space, where the dog park ranked second in priority among park improvements, will need to wait at least another two months for a decision. A separate proposal to upgrade lighting along the Northcote Creek Trail night path also failed to advance, with council referring it back to the infrastructure committee for revised costing after the initial estimate of $185,000 was queried by three councillors as potentially understated.
Rate notices incorporating the new levy will be issued in August. Residents seeking hardship arrangements can apply to the council's rates relief program, which is governed by the council's Rates Hardship Policy adopted in 2023. Applications must be lodged before the first instalment due date in September. Council officers will present a progress report on both the Greenfield Road reseal and the Community Health Centre hours trial at the October ordinary meeting, where the deferred dog park motion and trail lighting proposal are also scheduled to return.