A rate rise of 4.5 per cent has been confirmed as the City of Greater Geraldton voted on their budget for the 2026-27 financial year.

Originally proposing a residential rate rise of 5.9 per cent, the city made the choice to defer $5 million worth of capital works projects to cut costs and lower the differential rate.

The budget was the “culmination of months of discussions, meetings, opinions, and correspondence”, according to mayor Jerry Clune, and was passed by council 8-1 at Tuesday night’s meeting with a small surplus of $265,000.

The minimum rates in the city will jump $60 from $1300 to $1360. Out of the city’s 20,500 rateable properties, about 3000 are charged the minimum.

The average ratepayer will see an increase of $100 in their bill.

Rates on rural and farming land will be brought up by 10 per cent.

Predicted expenditure for the upcoming financial year is $110.6m, with revenue of $110.8m.

The biggest cost in the budget is staff costs, with $42.5m spent on paying city employees, and $33.7m spent on materials and contractors.

The budget will see $24.7m spent on roads, drainage, and culvert renewals, and $9.42m spent on sport and recreation infrastructure.

Their biggest revenue source is the $60m in rates projected over the upcoming financial year.

Cr Tim Milnes was the only council member to speak against the budget and rate rise.

“Any rate rise in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis demands a clear case of urgent need on the city’s own figures. That case has not been made,” he said.

“The 10 per cent (rise) on rural land troubles me most of all. It is particularly a steep cost on ratepayers who receive fewer of the city’s resources in a sector already under acute pressure.”

Cr Clune said he paid rates on a rural property, and the sharp rate rise was still lower than surrounding shires.

Cr Shane Van Styne and deputy mayor Natasha Colliver spoke of the importance of paying city’s staff in line with inflation rates.

“Rate increases are necessary to maintain the service levels and meet inflationary pressures across wages, materials, and service contracts, and deal with global financial uncertainty. Suggestions that we can hand out a budget with no increase to rates is simply naive,” Cr Colliver said.

Cr Peter Fiorenza thanked city workers who worked to whittle down the budget and lower the burden on ratepayers.

Cr Clune said the rate rise and decision to defer some projects was “very reasonable”.

“You always get people are not happy with rates, and no one wants to pay anymore,” he said.

“We’ve got some of the lowest rate rises within other comparable towns or cities within the State, so we’re doing pretty good with what we get.

“We as council make do on limited means, but we’re also delivering projects, so it’s a bit hard to manage the community’s expectations, and delivering it at a certain price.”

During public question time at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, local Randall Starling questioned whether the city had done enough to identify budget savings.

City director of corporate Services Paul Radalj responded that they had.

“The city annually undertakes a detailed review of these functions within the organisation, analysing the following revenue and cost movements, including trends, opportunities, and cyclical adjustments, and including service level requirements from a financial planning perspective, which forms the framework for the composition of the budget,” he said.