12:00a.m. 24th November 2008

| By Kerryn Manifold

Local Government Minister, Warren Pitt, visiting Councillors at the Caloundra Council Chambers. Photo: Che Chapman/175536

For the first time in nine years, Coast residents could be slapped with increased fines for breaching local laws.

Local government minister Warren Pitt has asked Queensland councils to decide if they will follow the lead set by the government last week when premier Anna Bligh announced state-enforced fines would increase by a third.

Under the proposal being considered by councils, the value of a penalty point would jump from $75 to $100 on January 1, 2009, which would effectively increase fines by a third.

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council made about $280,000 from fines during the 2007-2008 financial year.

Community services director for the southern region, Sheryl Krome, said any decision about fine increases would be up to councillors but her department was preparing a report into the matter. Ms Krome said other Queensland councils had announced they would take up the offer, which needed to be accepted or rejected by December 19.

“As we do a review of the local laws, it’s quite timely for us to discuss the issue,” Ms Krome said.

Mr Pitt said councils would be justified if they adopted the increase. He also warned councils against reducing the number of penalty points an offence attracts to offset an increase.

He said fines deterred people from committing offences but they had lost effectiveness since the penalty unit value was set in 1999.

“The real value of penalties in Queensland has been significantly eroded,” he said. “Councils are entitled to recover the relative losses that have resulted from inflation, so that enforcement may be more effectively administered.”

Ms Krome said fines did act as an effective deterrent in some cases. She said some of the most common laws breached were to do with animals, but all local laws were important.

“It would be lovely if everyone did comply but that doesn’t happen,” she said.

“If a local law is warranted, there’s a big section of the community that support it.”

She said parking fines would not be affected because they were set through a different system.