Here is a message from the Front. The enemy sent their final ultimatum demanding our surrender but we politely declined. Or to put it another way, as I said at a recent Goulburn Mulwarree public meeting, the State government has a gun to Palerang’s head and we’re gambling on ‘click’ rather than ‘blam!’
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It should not be like this. Local government is in a poor position to win a war with the State government. It only exists at the pleasure of the State and, provided the proper process is followed, any council can be dismissed at any time at the whim of the Minister.
It was the Independent Local Government Review Panel report that recommended Palerang and Queanbeyan should merge. The State government provided a consultant to work forensically with both councils to establish if merging would provide a benefit to ratepayers. As a result of that investigation both councils agreed the benefits were not there and to make stand-alone their preferred option.
The amalgamation debate has the added complication that most councils, unless they’ve recently raised their rates, are finding it difficult maintaining, let alone improving, services to residents. It’s a simple case of costs rising faster than revenue because the State pegs rate rises below the CPI rise and shifts costs to councils while at the same time reducing funding.
This is the most galling part of the whole debacle. Our council is doing a good job and if it was adequately resourced there would be no problem.
It’s fashionable on social media these days to see the council portrayed in a ‘Scrooge McDuck’ comic way — the image being of overpaid council workers spending the day diving into and wallowing around in ratepayers’ hard-earned money. Most of us know council workers, so really, we know it’s not true.
Palerang council is just a service organisation. It collects money from rates, charges and grants then spends it all providing ‘roads, rubbish’ and all the other things that are mandated for local government to provide. Our council is also a major employer in Braidwood, Bungendore and surrounds.
The bottom line is that Palerang Council is a structure built on over a decade of hard work from all its employees. The Kings Highway is its main artery, serving as it does, the connection between Canberra and the coast. To break us up and discard all those connections and hard work would be tragic.
Standing alone is the best option for Palerang’s ratepayers and residents. Merging with Queanbeyan is second-best and being drawn and quartered would be just as painful as it sounds.
Is the finger tightening on the trigger or is the brain kicking into gear? Over to you Mssrs Baird and Toole.
Cr Paul Cockram
Mongarlowe
