Bega Valley Shire ratepayers are set to be almost $4-million dollars worse off under a controversial plan to reduce the amount annual grant funding they receive.
The council has been left shaking it’s head after meeting with the NSW Local Government Grants Commission to discuss the proposal.
Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said he’s astonished at how unfair the plan is and is not happy about it.
“No, far from it Darren. Actually, it probably confused the whole situation more and a lot of the things, the questions we ask can’t be answered,” Mayor Fitzpatrick said.
“A lot of methodology around how they work out average figures or average what people can pay, couldn’t be answered,” he said.
“So, you know, to us at the moment, it’s just hasn’t been transparent, the whole process and we’re pretty disappointed with way we’re left wondering how you’re going to make ends meet if it’s introduced.”
The council has gone to the extraordinary step of putting in a GIPA application to try to access what data is being used by the Commission to make it’s decisions for the Bega Valley.
Under the plan Bega Valley Shire will lose $3.8-million funding next year alone.
“I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it, what the input is into each of the criteria. how they define the remoteness, how they define your ability to pay, what your average expenditure is and how that’s averaged out right across councils,” he said.
“We’re still received no solid answers as to it, apart from we use statistics from the ABS and other things but still nothing firm as to what it is.
“It’s just promoting mediocrity in local government.”
Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick says the outlook is not good for the budget bottom line.
“We’ve got to start planning if they do adopt them, you will have to plan how we’re going to cover the $3.8 million that we’re going to lose in the next 12 months and also then over the next four years,” he said.
“At the moment we’re fine for the next couple of years with cash, but we’ll run out of cash a couple of years quicker now because of the lack of income.
“We’ll now have to start to work out what infrastructure we can’t renew.
“You’re just doing basic repairs instead of actually, you know, renewal of those things like your roads.
“All you’d be doing is patching potholes instead of where the road may need a total renewal, partial renewal.
“You have to reduce your level of service in those areas then.”
