A local ratepayer who identified himself to the meeting only by his first name, Hal, queried why rates went up at all this year seeing as many people in town were doing it tough and the town was in decline.

Cr McCulloch said the rate increase was “fair” and council had to look at the overall cost of running the city in things like sewerage, libraries, parks and gardens, rubbish removal and water and what funding they could get to offset those costs.

“Our costs of running the city have not decreased, in fact they have increased, particularly with water and energy costs,” Cr McCulloch said.

“We can’t reduce our employee pay rates because Mount Isa is in the outback, they go up annually.”

Acting CEO Sharon Ibardolaza said council tried hard to limit the increases by looking at savings in all aspects of the operation and she offered to walk through a breakdown of the rates.

The ratepayer Hal then asked a supplementary question about why Council charged responsible dog owners an annual fee for dogs.

“The ones that are roaming around haven’t been paid for in the first place,” he said.

The mayor correcting him saying 1500 residents who had paid their dog fees had let their animals escape needing council to take action.

She said state legislation was becoming harder on stray dogs and council needed to cover its costs dealing with the problem.

When asked by another ratepayer Barry Byrne were any of council’s actions regrettable but necessary, the Mayor said they had nothing to regret and the budget was “very fair across the board”.

Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick said the budget was tight but they were able to achieve many of their objectives with $12 million allocated to local projects.