Rates, roads and rage: Bendigo residents speak up as council budget bites

City of Greater Bendigo ratepayers opened their July notices this week to find a 5.5 per cent rate increase locked in for the 2026-27 financial year — and residents across several suburbs say they were not adequately consulted before councillors voted the figure through at the June 24 ordinary council meeting.

The timing matters. Victorian councils were given flexibility under the state government's rate-cap framework to exceed the default 2.75 per cent cap if they could demonstrate financial need, and Greater Bendigo argued rising construction costs, the ongoing Bendigo Health capital expansion project on Lucan Street, and deferred road maintenance made the higher figure unavoidable. But that explanation has landed poorly in working-class pockets of the city's north and west, where cost-of-living pressure was already acute before the bills arrived.

Neighbourhood by neighbourhood, frustration mounts

In Kangaroo Flat, residents near the Osborne Street precinct say footpaths flagged for repair in the 2024-25 budget still have not been touched. In Long Gully, locals point to the corner of Panton Street and Bennett Street, where a stormwater drainage problem first reported to council in late 2024 has produced a muddy sinkhole that widens each winter. Community members who attended the Eaglehawk Neighbourhood House information session on June 30 described a mood of quiet fury: people who accept that services cost money but feel the consultation process — a six-week online survey that closed in May — did not reach older residents without reliable internet access.

The Bendigo Community Health Services office on Arnold Street has been fielding calls from clients asking whether council hardship provisions apply to their rate bills. The answer is yes — Greater Bendigo's Financial Hardship Policy allows for deferrals, payment plans and, in extreme cases, partial waivers — but community workers say the policy is poorly advertised and the application process intimidating for people under financial stress. The council's own budget documents show the hardship fund holds approximately $180,000 for 2026-27, unchanged from the previous year despite the larger rate increase.

La Trobe University's Bendigo campus on Edwards Road feeds hundreds of students into the local rental market each semester. Several student-tenants have noted that councils rates flow through to landlords and, ultimately, to rents. The Bendigo Tenants Network, which operates from a shared office on Mundy Street, says it recorded a 22 per cent jump in contacts during the June quarter compared to the same period in 2025 — calls overwhelmingly about rent increases and lease insecurity rather than disputes with landlords.

What council says — and what comes next

Greater Bendigo's adopted capital works budget for 2026-27 allocates $14.2 million to road and drainage renewal, up from $11.8 million the year before. Council officers point to the Eaglehawk Road resurfacing project, scheduled to begin in August, and upgrades to the Kennington Reservoir Park carpark as evidence the money is being spent in the community rather than banked. The Bendigo Art Gallery's federation wing upgrade — part of a broader regional arts investment — is also pencilled in for completion before the gallery's major summer exhibition season.

The next ordinary council meeting is scheduled for July 22 at the Bendigo Town Hall on View Street, starting at 6 pm. It is open to the public, and agenda items close for formal submission on July 15. Community members who want to register a question about rate hardship assistance, infrastructure timelines, or the consultation process can do so through council's website or by calling the customer service line on (03) 5434 6000.

Residents at the Eaglehawk session said they planned to attend in numbers. Whether councillors respond with policy changes or restate the existing budget position, the July 22 meeting will be the clearest test yet of how much political heat the 5.5 per cent figure is generating inside the Town Hall, not just on the streets outside it.