WACA seeks $2.5m rates exemption from City of Perth
The WA Cricket Association has requested a 10-year rates exemption worth an estimated $2.5 million from the City of Perth as the redevelopment of the historic sports ground nears completion.
Outlined in the agenda for the City of Perth’s December 2 meeting, council acknowledged the $184 million redevelopment is a challenge for WACA but is instead proposing capped concession rates for the next three years at a total cost of about $350,000.
The request follows the city’s $1.9 million worth of rate concessions granted to WACA over a decade by various state government ministers; the most recent one by Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley ended in June.
The city said these ministerial moves were made without council input.
The city’s leadership recommended that councilors approve a 75 percent concession in the current fiscal year, followed by a 50 percent rate cut, followed by a 25 percent rate ending in 2027-28; This means a total cost of $347,450 instead of the estimated $2.5 million.
“It is recognized that WACA may benefit from short-term support in the form of a time-limited rate concession to allow WACA to continue operations following the challenges of the redevelopment project,” the council said in discussion notes, where it also highlighted that it had made a $25 million capital contribution to the project.
But he also noted that the redevelopment, which includes a number of new publicly accessible facilities, should provide “significantly enhanced revenue generation opportunities” for WACA.
“Given this, it would be appropriate to begin exploring options to obtain a reasonable contribution from WACA as a responsible corporate citizen operating within the city limits,” the agenda stated.
“The request for a ten-year 100 percent rate exemption proposed by WACA does not appear to be in the spirit of this outcome, otherwise the city’s taxpayers would be picking up this financial shortfall.”
WACA reported a net profit of $68.4 million for the fiscal year ending June 30; however, this includes $67.3 million from WACA Ground Improvement Program-related grants that are recorded as revenue.
If grant revenue were excluded, WACA would have made a profit of approximately $1 million for the past fiscal year; operational income would be $46.1 million; this was a similar result to the previous corresponding period.
Revenue from Cricket Australia in 2024-25 was $38 million, WACA member subscriptions were $7.2 million and the organization’s income from its own functions was $905,143.
