Updated ,first published
Rates in Brisbane will increase by an average of 3.97 per cent, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced on Wednesday morning ahead of his 2026-27 budget being handed down.
He said the increase would equate to about $1.22 a week, or $60 a year.
The average rate rise is below inflation and, according to Brisbane City Council, $400 below the average in surrounding local government areas.
“One of the ways we’ve been able to find savings … is through debt reduction, and so lower interest payments this year, reducing debt, and it’s the first time in almost a decade that no money is being borrowed,” Schrinner said on Brisbane radio station 4BC.
“The debt’s coming down significantly, so that’s allowed us to pass those savings on to the people of Brisbane.”
Schrinner added that more than 90 per cent of spending would occur in the Brisbane suburbs.
On Tuesday, the lord mayor announced the centrepiece of his budget would be a road-repair blitz, with $110 million allocated to resurfacing.
Almost 1 million square metres of roads will be resurfaced across Brisbane, in a cornerstone commitment of the LNP budget.
Under a project dubbed “Operation Smooth”, repairs would include the southern approach to the Story Bridge, as well as roads in Albion, Eagle Farm, Hamilton, Ipswich, Logan, Lutwyche, Moggill, and Toowong, among others.
Schrinner added that $213 million would be spent subsidising bus, CityCat and Brisbane Metro services.
This week Brisbane Times also revealed the budget would fund a 1.2-kilometre cycleway linking Shafston Avenue between Kangaroo Point and East Brisbane.
A further $400 million would go towards the Beams Road corridor upgrade and delivering intersection upgrades in Inala and Coorparoo, as well as a new crossing on Gympie Road in Bald Hill.
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