Brimbank City Council, Victoria, has developed a new user-friendly tool that helps calculate and pay a Development Contributions Payment (DCP) through a simple online process.
Mayor Lucinda Congreve said Council was thrilled the new tool had won in the Improving Planning Processes and Practices category at the Planning Institute of Australia awards.
“Creation of Council’s new online DCP system was driven by our Community First approach.
“As the DCP is a very complex levy system, Council was keen to develop a straightforward, streamlined system so that anyone to whom the levy applied would be able to calculate and pay their levy through a simple process.
“Council therefore translated the complex DCP statutory requirements into a user-friendly online format that includes tools such as a calculator to determine the appropriate levy, and a convenient online form that is sent to the DCP Officer to request a Development Contributions Plan Levy Invoice.”
Council’s DCP calculator assists in providing some certainty about the cost of development in relation to Council fees, by providing users with an accurate estimate of the applicable levy, or helping them understand if they are exempt from payment – and all in a convenient and easy-to-understand format.
“The benefit to users of the new Brimbank DCP online system is that they can ‘self-serve’ the appropriate information, at their own convenience without having to make direct contact with Council, and without having to interpret the complexities of the statutory requirements of the DCP levy.
“The uptake of the new online DCP system has been very encouraging.
“Since being implemented in January 2018, out of the 141 DCP levy invoices created, 138 requests for the levy invoice were made online.”
