Businesses get no bang for buck

Digging deep: Ed Ahern and Paul Waters, from Byron United, and restaurateur Tippy Heng, who are unhappy with the new food administration levy being charged by the Byron Shire Council.

Jay Cronan

CAFES and restaurants in the Byron Shire are being forced to dig deep for a levy for which they say they are getting no return.

According to Byron Shire Council’s environmental health officer, Jon Rushforth, the fee, introduced on July 1 last year, is the result of the NSW Food Regulation Partnership that has been implemented to help councils raise food safety standards.

“The new legislation requires local councils to charge ... food businesses that are subject to routine council inspections,” he said.

The food businesses are being faced with an ‘annual administration charge’ of between $250 and $2000, depending on how many staff they have.

“I have to pay $750,” Orient Express and Traditional Thai owner Tippy Heng said. “That’s a lot of money to fork out on top of inspection fees and I am a little bit disappointed that I have not been told what the money will be used for.”

Byron Beach Cafe owner Ben Kirkwood said he was already paying for health inspections and the business was not going to benefit from this new fee.

“It’s just pushing up operating costs,” Mr Kirkwood said.

“That means that at some stage we have to pass increased costs on to customers. Restaurants and cafes in Byron Bay are already at the thin end of the wedge with an average profit margin of less than three per cent.”

When asked what the fee paid for, council’s executive manager of corporate management, Mark Arnold, said it covered only part of the cost of supporting the NSW Food Safety Program. To date $74,000 has been generated by the levy from 250 businesses.

Balcony Bar and Restaurant manager Paul Waters said he wanted to see something for the money being paid out.

“We can administer our own businesses. We don’t need the council to administer them for us,” he said.

“It’s a scandal,” Petit Snail owner Igor Aoudai said.

“I pay $120 for a 15-minute health inspection twice a year, and $730 every three months in footpath tax, and now this levy. All we do is pay fees and fines. And what do we get for our money?”

Cafe owners and restaurateurs were also angry the council had chosen to charge the maximum all-owed fee set by the food authority. In fact, the authority has said councils could waive or reduce the annual administration charge at their discretion.