On Monday 30th June Palerang Council’s submission on its “Fitness for the future” will have been submitted. Writing this letter three days before that deadline, I would love to tell people what’s in it, but I can’t, because I don’t know. At last Thursday’s Meeting, Council delegated to the Mayor the finalisation of it. Councillors had been provided with an incomplete draft about 24 hours before the Meeting. Although the Meeting was held in public, copies of the draft documents were not available to members of the public attending the Meeting. What I can tell you is that I have objected strongly to two themes in the draft documents.
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They mention two Planning Proposals for large housing estates in Bungendore. Neither of these is yet approved, and one of them hasn’t even been seen by Council yet. I was left with the impression, and I think the assessors of the FFTF proposal will be too, that the submission is saying that to survive Palerang needs these housing estates and the rates they will bring. So what chance they will be assessed on their Planning merits, and not based on dollar signs?
Similarly, the documents make quite a firm commitment to a 40% rates rise over 5 years. Any objective reader would form the same impression as on the housing estates, that these rises are needed for Palerang to survive. Of course Palerang will probably be obliged to undertake public consultation before such a rates rise would be approved, but what’s the point in consulting when you’ve already made up your mind? That’s sham consulting. I doubt a rates rise would even be necessary if Council was more willing to critically review its own decision making, and to expedite activities that will save money. To date it has not been, and although the draft submission includes a whole lot of “gunna” statements, the current elected Council has had more than 2½ years to “gunna”, and hasn’t.
Councillor Peter Marshall
Captains Flat
