A petition calling on the City of Mandurah to raise rates to 2.5 percent or lower has been created after council approved to advertise a rate increase of 4.43 percent.
Mandurah resident Brad Bedford started the petition after having concerns about people already struggling to keep up with costs.
He said he believed the City could be doing more to minimise the rate increase by reducing its operating costs.
"We all know the rates have to go up but the City need to know there's a lot of people who can't put food on the table at the moment," Mr Bedford said.
"The City could put a hold on some of these major projects because building materials are going up.
"If there was more budget restraints the rate increase could be kept down."
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In the petition, Mr Bedford suggested a 2.5 percent rate increase. He said his goal was to reach 1500 signatures with over 100 people already signing.
However in a post to Facebook, other residents agreed with the 4.43 percent rise.
"l think the increase is reasonable - all sorts of costs have increased which in turn has put pressure on the council undertaking tasks expected of them," one ratepayer wrote.
"To me, any proposed increases next year should attract more scrutiny but not this year."
"As long as I see the money is being spent wisely on projects that have benefits to everyone and there's transparency of the financial management then I have no issue," another ratepayer wrote.
According to the City officer's report, due to increases in Mandurah's costs related to inflation, materials, transportation and subcontractors, a rate hike will be necessary this year.
The report further said Mandurah's infrastructure, services and amenities needed to expand to meet the requirements of the population growth and the City's ageing infrastructure required investment.
Written submissions on the proposed rate increase of 4.43 percent can be lodged with the City until 4.30pm on June 24, 2022.
Send a submission via email to council@mandurah.wa.gov.au
