Councillors have hinted at limiting the rates exemptions they grant to property owners in the city.
At a meeting last week, Logan City councillors voted against a motion granting a rating exemption to a confidential land owner.
In Logan, landowners may be excused from paying council rates if their property is used for religious, charitable, education or other public purposes.
Multiple councillors – Paul Jackson, Tim Frazer, Jacob Heremaia, Miriam Stemp and Karen Murphy – voted in favour of granting the exemption.
But it was ultimately knocked back.
“We have a process and we should follow that process,” Cr Heremaia said.
He said exemption applications were assessed by council officers using an “independent criteria”.
These officers then put forward a recommendation to councillors as to whether the exemption should be granted or refused.
In this instance, the recommendation suggested councillors grant the exemption.
“If there is an issue with the independent criteria and we want to change how council deals with rating exemptions, we should change the criteria,” Cr Heremaia said.
“We shouldn’t just start declining applications as they come in.
“We should do it the proper way.”
Cr Karen Murphy agreed.
According to the city’s director of organisational services, council policy provides councillors with discretion over the decision, meaning they have the final say.
“I wasn’t elected to do what bureaucrats recommend to me, I was elected to represent the community,” mayor Jon Raven said.
“My concern is around the impact on the budget that continuing rating exemptions will provide.
“In the last round, we refused some very worthy rates exemptions, and it was on some unusual grounds.”
The mayor said residents want councillors to be “very tight on how we use their funds and what exemptions we provide”.
He said council needed to review the rating exemption policy in the future.
The exemption application was refused by a majority vote.
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