IT is becoming apparent that Eurobodalla Shire is to have a considerable jump in income and expenditure.
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Of interest to ratepayers will be the issue of how much the salaries, allowances and pensions of council staff, particularly at the executive level, will increase.
It is often the practice to base salaries on council expenditures and we should not forget the allowances paid to mayors and councillors.
The rate increase would be of the order of 26 per cent over the next few years, how many other residents can expect increases approaching that figure over the near future?
Yet this issue was not raised at council meetings or in the information campaign, which seems a strange oversight.
Those of us on pension or salary increases related to slowly adjusting national CPI or earnings indexes will certainly be making an unbalanced contribution to the costs of parks, kerbs and gutters, road repairs and sealing and that most iniquitous benefit given to increasing the value of homes, the creation of sealed roads in new urban spots in rural areas.
We will all remember those who bought land cheap in the rural areas some years ago and then had the community rebuild their roads.
There should be private ‘road works’ contributions as in the past.
Asking residents what ‘free’ community works they would like is not a test of need but rather the encouragement of publicity-financed benefits with no clear rationale.
We need to ensure the most effective and efficient services before embarking.
The rate load is less reasonable. The cost of living will rise as rates and charges are passed around yet we have no information from the ‘economic census’ or other income sources.
Requests for same just receive standard replies.
Perhaps the NSW Local Government Minister also would give a view on these aspects of ambitious local authorities in relatively small areas with competing tourist based economies.
WD Liddy
Moruya