The City of Stirling has formally adopted its 2025-26 budget, locking in an average residential rates rise of 4.5 per cent, which equates to about $59 more per residential property.

A surplus of $4.5 million is expected.

In a last-minute attempt to reduce the rate increase, Stirling deputy mayor Suzanne Migdale argued at Tuesday’s council meeting the proposed rate rise was too high amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures and called for an increase of 3.95 per cent.

“The Consumer Price Index, our most objective measure of inflation, currently sits at 2.8 per cent ... By contrast, the proposed 4.5 per cent increase in local government rates represents an uplift that is approximately 60 per cent above that index,” Cr Migdale said.

“In purely economic terms, this is difficult to justify, and

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