BEING “transparent” and “accountable” should mean not trying to deceive ratepayers.
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But isn’t council’s word play designed to do exactly that?
The extra 5 per cent is actually per year, for three years, on top of 2.3 per cent allowed (not compulsory).
So what management is actually talking about here is approximately 7.3 per cent a year, compounding over three years, which calculates to a proposed rise in rates of approximately 23.53 per cent.
The other misleading assertion made by council is that Eurobodalla Shire’s rates are lower than average.
What council is not telling ratepayers is that it has been hiking up unregulated fees and charges within rates for a very long time, to the point this has now become an embarrassment.
For example, in Sydney the cost of water is $2.232 per kilolitre.
In the Eurobodalla it’s $3.40 per kilolitre.
Last year the residential availability charge was $228, this year it’s $282, an annual increase of 23.68 per cent.
In Sydney this charge is about $114 a year.
By adding new charges for the same services, and hiking them up quietly over many years, we are now being extremely overcharged by council.
Council apparently spends about 70 per cent of its rates and charges income on wages.
So in business terms it has been bankrupt for a very long time, by mismanagement.
The problem with all councils is that they were taken over by the state many years ago, and became unaccountable and out of control.
The solution is the same as the state has been doing (very successfully) with hospitals and schools, by merely returning real control to communities, and restoring a system that used to work well, before this takeover (certainly not amalgamation).
I commend Councillor Leslight for being the only councillor to vote against this proposal.
Damien Rogers
Moruya