Hindley Street business levy on the cards
Adelaide City Council is consulting with traders on an additional rate specific to maintaining the west end strip, similar to the levy already in place for Rundle Mall.
An additional council rate is being proposed for Hindley Street property owners located between King William and Morphett Streets.
A council spokesperson told InDaily no specific rate has been proposed at this stage, but if there is support from stakeholders, it could form part of the 2025/26 council budget.
“The key thing is that we are seeking feedback through consultation with relevant stakeholders,” the spokesperson said.
“The area being considered at present is Hindley Street between King William and Morphett Streets, and one property back along side streets from that stretch of Hindley.
“Again, any decision is very much dependent on outcomes of the consultation with affected property owners and the endorsement of council.”
The spokesperson said the council have been meeting with key stakeholders for some time, and individuals and businesses will be able to have their say on the levy through online consultation and face-to-face meeting opportunities.
In a special finance and governance committee meeting held Tuesday night, Chief Operating Officer Anthony Spartalis told elected members they are consulting with Hindley Street property owners in the coming month.
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This comes as Hindley Street is due for a $15 million upgrade to narrow the street, widen footpaths for outdoor dining and upgrade pedestrian crossings.
The proposed vision of Hindley Street’s facelift which is due for detailed design and construction later this year. This picture: Adelaide City Council
Hindley Street hit a record-high vacancy rate in 2024 but showed signs of improvement in Q3 of 2024 at 17.9 per cent, down from the recorded high of 18.1 per cent in Q1.
A levy on city main streets commercial operators is something the council have considered in previous years and is currently only in place for Rundle Mall.
The Rundle Mall levy is paid by owners in the mall precinct for marketing and resources for the mall, with funds flowing to the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA).
Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said the levy is “a key part of the secret behind the success of Rundle Mall”.
“All of our main streets are ripe for further activation but these sorts of additional activities could be driven by the businesses themselves, much like the Mall,” Lomax-Smith said.
The levy discussion was raised in the council’s budget deliberations for 2025/26 and follows a bid from AEDA chair Steve Maras for more funding.
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The Rundle Mall Levy made up $3.89 million of AEDA’s $13.6 million income in 2023-24, according to AEDA’s business plan.
“We were very early on in adopting levies for streets with Rundle mall, and we’ve talked about it for Hindley Street,” Lomax-Smith said in Tuesday’s meeting.
“But if other commercial streets had this capacity, it would actually mean that it’d be more money in the hands of AEDA to spend on the things that matter.”
Councillor Mary Couros, a long-time advocate for a main street levy, told elected members it’s a “no-brainer idea” that the council should have started work on earlier.
“There was an opportunity two years ago for us to actually shape this and have a policy in place, and we wouldn’t be sitting here arguing about AEDA and what money they should pull from our budget,” Couros said.
“There would be an actual pool of money that I would like to be transparent, that I would like AEDA to manage, that I would like the people on the street to actually see where their money is going.”
While talks progress for a Hindley Street levy, the committee also discussed levies for other city main streets.
“We’ve been talking about it for two years, and it’s ridiculous,” Lomax-Smith said.
“Let’s just do it because if Hutt Street, Gouger Street, Melbourne Street, and O’Connell Street, or even Rundle Street East, had the capacity to invest a small percentage of rates directly in outcomes they want, i.e. events, street closures, marketing, it will be good for the city, and it would be money that could be spent by AEDA responsibly in consultation.”
Spartalis said while it may be possible to consult with other main street traders for by the end of this financial year, it would be a larger project.
“Whilst it may be possible to [consult with property owners] before the end of the financial year, it will not be possible, I think, to go through the proper process to be able to incorporate that from a financial perspective in the coming budget but that doesn’t’ preclude us from doing that in future years,” he said.
The council’s draft 2025/26 budget is due to go out for community consultation in about a month and will be finalised in June.
