Council said they were put in a position where they had to “forge ahead” with a new way rate system after the Court decided the way they had charged for water was “invalid”.

“We were pretty happy with the way budget deliberations were going and then all of a sudden we get advised of this,” Mayor Joyce McCulloch said. 

“We all had our backs to the wall over this, we have had to get in and work very hard and very quickly to put this together.”

Council said they were not able to provide any further explanation as they were in the process of appealing the decision.  

The Mount Isa Irish Association Friendly Society brought the case against council after being slapped with a water bill for almost $50,000. 

They argued against the validity of council’s rates notice because they were not calculated according to the water they actually used.

Irish Club manager Bernard Gillic said  “as the matter is before the Courts, I am not able to make any comment”.

The Supreme Court found council had not exercised its power to levy utility charges for water in a way that reflected “transparent and effective processes, and decision-making in the public interest”.

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By law, council must charge for water either “wholly according to the water used” or “partly according to the water used, using a two-part charge”.

The Court ruled against council because they did not comply with this.

The new rate system Council is introducing a two-part charge. 

Residents will pay now pay for the water they actually use as well as an annual access charge. 

Previously ratepayers paid a fixed charge even if they did not use all the water they paid for. 

If they went over the water supplied – they would have to pay extra. 

But because council needs to charge ratepayers “wholly according to the water used”, rates could not be calculated from a fixed amount plus water used over a stated quantity.

Council said “as a result of the Supreme Court, council in their budget deliberations considered a number of options and the option that has been put forward has the least impact to majority of water consumers”. 

While council admits the Court’s decision did pressure them into reviewing the way it charges for water – they say it is still something the community wanted.

“I think where that backlash is coming from has been politically motivated. When we released the budget last year we got a lot of feedback from the community to say, we need to change the way we charge for water –they wanted a user pays system,” Mayor Joyce McCulloch said. 

“This has been driven by community for a number of years.

“We have probably done more community consultation as a council than any previous council beforehand,” she said. 

“We have explored all different types of modeling, we did not just sit around at a table at one meeting, this has taken three months of hard work. The important point is that is people were very serious about an issue then they would go to the organisation and ask questions and say hey I need a better understating of this.”

Dozens of community members are expected to attend Wednesday’s council meeting at noon to voice their opinions.