When business and industry leaders gather at the Entertainment Centre tonight to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of Business SA, the Emergency Services Levy is expected to be the hot topic of conversation.
Changes to the levy’s discount and rebates system have combined with increased property valuations to deliver bills that have shocked businesses across Adelaide.
“We’ve got feedback that a number of our members were expecting a modest increase but have been shocked at the quantum of the jump,” Business SA chief executive Nigel McBride told InDaily.
“It seems to be partially related to new, higher valuations of property.
“This raises the related issue that people should be able to challenge valuation levels in the new SACAT (administrative tribunal) without having to go to the Supreme Court which is clearly beyond the means of most.”
Businesses with high property valuations are finding their bills have quadrupled, partially due to increases in their land value, but mostly due to the reverse impact of removing discounts and remissions.
Sporting clubs are also getting nasty surprises in the mail for similar reasons.
The Cruising Yacht Club (CYC) of South Australia, based at North Haven, has seen its ESL jump from $4,200 to $18,530 – an increase of around 340 per cent.
CYC chief executive Craig Evans said the ESL jump had not been fully explained by the State Government, hence the surprises in mailboxes this week.
“Our land valuation has not increased from last year to this year,” Evans told InDaily.
“What has changed is the removal of what was called a ‘general remission’ that had previously been applied to the Emergency Services Levy (ESL)
“The ‘general remission’ provided a ‘rebate’ to everyone that had to pay the ESL.
“In our circumstance the ‘general remission’ represents a rebate of around 75 per cent.
“From what I understand the higher the value of the property involved the higher the percentage of relief offered by the ‘general remission’.”
Similar to the scale that applied to residential houses, the ‘general remission’ was applied to provide a sliding scale to larger property owners so that they were not burdened with a ridiculously high ESL impost.
The State Government decision to eliminate the ‘general remission’ has had the opposite sliding scale percentage increase on larger/more expensive properties.
It’s hit schools, businesses and sporting groups such as the CYC.
Evans says that wasn’t made clear in Budget statements.
“The State Governments removal of the ‘general remission’ was not announced until well into the current financial year and it was not fully explained or appreciated.
“It was not until people started getting their ESL invoice in the past few days that the full impact was understood by most of us.”
