The West Coast Council has replaced its early rates payment discount with a prize draw, saying a blanket discount would cost more than $120,000 – money it can’t afford to budget for.
Four winners were drawn at the council’s October meeting, with vouchers worth up to $2,000 awarded to ratepayers who paid their rates in full by September 30.
The change is expected to save the council significant funds compared with offering a traditional 3% early payment discount.
Te-Ari Murphy and Maddison Brodie from Strahan took out the top prize of $2,000.
Stuart Thurgood from Queenstown won $1,000, while Graham and Marie Paige and Barry Hooper from Rosebery each received $500.
The council said legal constraints prevented it from offering a discount only to residential ratepayers.
“When a discount is applied, we can’t put terms and conditions on it therefore it has to apply to all properties – a discount would then apply to all ratepayers who pay rates in full by a set date, including large industry and government agencies,” the council said.
A 3% discount across the board would have cost $128,165, based on the $4.27 million in rates paid in full by the September deadline.
“Council doesn’t know how many ratepayers will pay early therefore we also can’t budget for how much a discount would cost – this could potentially lead us to a deficit,” it said.
“Reinstating a discount would also cost more than the $4,000 allocated for West Coast Winners in 2025-2026.”
The West Coast Winners program allows the council to exclude businesses, government departments, staff and councillors from the prize draw. Ratepayers can also choose to opt out.
Council will review the initiative as part of its broader rates review for the 2026–2027 financial year.
All vouchers must be spent at West Coast businesses.
