Rates increase under tabled ESVF legislation

THE Emergency Services Volunteer Fund (ESVF) will replace the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) from July 1, 2025, with the legislation recently being tabled in Victorian Parliament.

According to the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) website, the ESVF “will help support a broader range of emergency services and for the first time include VICSES, Triple Zero Victoria, the State Control Centre, Forest Fire Management Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria, as well as the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV).

“The ESVF will fund up to 87.5 per cent of FRV’s budget, and up to 95 per cent of CFA’s budget.”

The DTF website also says that the ESVF will fund up to 95 per cent of the budgets for the organisations listed above.

Both the old and the new levy have a variety of categories to determine the amount charged for contribution to Victoria’s fire services, such as residential, non-residential, industrial and primary production, as well as a fixed charge and a variable component.

The fixed charge has increased by $4 to $9 across all categories under the new ESVF, while the variable rate has almost tripled in some categories.

For residential primary place of residence the variable rate has increased from 8.7 cents per $1000 of capital improved value (CIV) to 17.3 cents per $1000 of CIV. This is almost double.

In particular, the variable rate for the primary production category has increased from 28.7 cents per $1000 of CIV to 83 cents per $1000 of CIV for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Emergency service volunteers will be granted an exemption from paying the ESVF on their primary place of residence.
“That’s why, from July 1 2025, active volunteers and life members won’t have to pay the ESVF on…

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