Mayor Allan Sutherland has spruiked it as the best rates deal in the state, but not all within the Moreton Bay region have championed the annual council budget.

While general rates in the Sunshine Coast (up 4.8 per cent) and Brisbane (up 5 per cent) have risen, household rates for half of all Moreton Bay ratepayers are set to decrease by an average of 3.4 per cent, or around $36 for the year.

“Fifty per cent of Moreton Bay’s owner occupied residential ratepayers will receive a reduction in their general rate compared to last year,” Mr Sutherland said.

However, Division 12 councillor Adrian Raedel said some ratepayers in rural areas, such as graziers and dairy farmers, were footing the bill for the rates reductions.

Cr Raedel said farming properties in districts such as Woodford and Mt Mee had been rated as Light Industrial areas, meaning an increase in general rates of up 20 per cent this financial year.

“I support any rates reduction we can possibly give, but I can’t see it being fair at the expense of other ratepayers,” he said.

“We’ve got to work hard to give rates reductions where we can, but I really don’t think it’s fair when other ratepayers have to pay for it and their increases are quite dramatic.

“The agricultural sector are disappointed and they feel that they’re cross-subsidising these people in residential properties that are getting a rates reduction.”

Mt Mee dairy farmer Rowena Crouch, who milks 230 head of cattle on a 96-hectare property with her husband Martin, said the rates increase would affect the viability of their business.

Mrs Crouch said while she had expected rates to rise due to new land values in the area, the increase was double what she had anticipated.

“We didn’t want any rise but we knew it would happen… but we were expecting probably more about 10 per cent,” she said.  “Like any business you don’t want to pay for much more, because 20 per cent’s a fair bit so that will probably add about $500 on to our rates.

“It’s going to make it harder because our income’s going down anyway, as we’re waiting for a new price on our milk because our contract’s run out. 

“We know that’s only going to go down but we’re waiting to see how far.”

The council budget is the first to feature a uniform rating system across the former Pine Rivers, Caboolture and Redcliffe areas.

However, Dennis Austen from the Ratepayer Action Group said this wouldn’t equate to similar numbers on all rates bills.

“It’s not really uniform when you have a good look at it, because now they’ve got a rate for rentals (housing) too,” he said.

“If you’ve got a house that’s owner-occupied and next door is a rental, the rental house is about going to be about 25 per cent more dearer.”

This disparity in property ratings, which will see some landlords of rental homes charged up to 34 per cent more compared to last year, was another element of the council budget not supported by Cr Raedel.

“Say you’ve got two properties side by side, both the same valuation and both the same size, one property owned by a family living in there, the other property also owned by a family, but they’ve got people renting it,” he said.

“What changes the burden on Council’s services, simply because one’s a rental property and the other is not?”

Mr Austen said despite Council giving a 50 per cent subsidy on price increases for water and sewerage, residents would feel an added pinch in the hip pocket.

“A lot of people are struggling at the moment and I just don’t know where they think they’re going to get the money from,” Mr Austen said.

“It’s not just rates, it’s your petrol, your food, your (driver’s) license and everything. There’s too many bloody things going up.”

Councillors Chris Whiting and David Dwyer also voiced dissent at elements of the council budget, which will see rates increases of around $100 a year for 43 per cent of residential ratepayers.