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Thursday April 30, 2026 
9 January 2025
Political pressure is mounting on North Sydney Council over its plans to increase rates by between 50% and 110% one day ahead of a consultation deadline. One resident has even charged that the claimed financial crisis at the Council is the simple result of an unorthodox accounting redefinition.
State MP for North Shore Felicity Wilson, independent councillor James Spenceley, and former councillor Ian Mutton are among those to have mass-mailed letters to local residents in opposition to the plans. The Council says the increases are necessary because of cost overruns on the North Sydney Olympic Pool renovations and a $147 million infrastructure renewal backlog. The proposed increases, which would see around three-quarters of local ratepayers pay 81% more next financial year, are required, it says, because the Council’s “financial position is very weak and the financial outlook is unsustainable.”
In a flyer circulated to residents, Wilson states that there was no mention of this financial issue immediately prior to the September local government elections and that the current financial year budget, released last June, makes no reference to these issues.
Wilson says, “Council has not proposed cost-cutting or efficiency mechanisms. In fact, it proposes maintaining existing spending along with increased spending on new items of $57.4 million over just the next three years.”
Spenceley makes the sensational claim that, as a sitting councillor, he was not made aware of these issues prior to the September election.
“Shockingly, Council engaged marketing consultants to prepare to promote this rate rise just five days after the election, with the results known but while votes were still being counted. This timing raises serious questions about transparency,” Spenceley says.
“Asking to provide feedback on whether you prefer a 65% or 111% rate increase is no choice at all. Unfortunately, my motion to include in the consultation a much lower option of 10%, 15%, or 20% was defeated.” Like Wilson, Spenceley criticises the Council for not pursuing other options such as cost controls and asset sales, including its portfolio of luxury apartments, retail outlets, and commercial properties.
Meanwhile, former councillor Ian Mutton has been moved to come out of retirement by the rate impost. In a public letter, he writes: “The financial impact of the Olympic pool rebuild was evident from early 2023. Despite the Mayor’s warnings about the unsustainable financial pressure, the pool is a long-term asset for future generations. Typically, such assets are funded through long-term liabilities, like borrowing, rather than being paid off in a short period.”
He adds: “If Council does wish to pay off the pool in the short term, then Council’s underperforming commercial property portfolio could be rationalised. In the real world, debt can be managed by selling assets. In the case of North Sydney Council, the sale of the Ward Street car park and a few retail outlets in Greenwood Plaza would likely deliver nearly $100m in cash – more than enough to cover the pool.”
As with Spenceley, Mutton says, “Prior to the 2024 Council election, nothing was said that suggested Council was in anything other than a strong financial position.”
So why has Council suddenly pronounced that it has a financial issue? The answer may come from Dr Dave Bond, a local resident who holds an academic position at the UNSW Business School.
Dr Bond explains in a YouTube video that the Council has changed the definition of its infrastructure backlog, massively expanding it. “If the old definition had continued to be used in 2024, the estimated costs, as far as I’ve calculated, would have been $45.7 million, not $146.8 million. This change has increased the perceived size of the problem by over $100 million,” he says.
“North Sydney Council uses an estimate which is more than double that of other Sydney metro councils,” he adds. “This isn’t to say that there aren’t good reasons to upgrade the infrastructure of North Sydney, nor for the change in definition. But it’s important that North Sydney Council be transparent that this $146.8 million figure has, in large part, come into being due to a change in definition, a change with, as far as I can calculate, a $100 million impact. This definition also seems to be far from standard practice among other Sydney councils.”