Problems With Our Council.

[Ray]

Over the last few years it seems our District Council have had problems not only with ratepayer's disatisfaction but also there have been financial problems. Only a few years ago the State regulatory body was called in about possible mismanagement of finances allocated for works in Georgetown. It was announced on the radio and TV that the case was found to have merit and consequently there was a bit of reorganisation done with people being slid sideways, but no formal charges were laid.

Only a few days ago I was made aware of possible anomalies in the figures for the new footbridge that is being erected. It was suggested to me that it was running way over budget and that the figures being released possibly being "sexed up" for ratepayer consumption. I'm also led to believe that there is a strong possibility that public money has been improperly managed once again, it may be well worth one's time to keep a close eye on developments in this area.

Today I was told that there will be a major upset today with the possible resignation of one of the Senior Council employees, (effective immediately).

I've always been of the opinion that our Council management is basically "dodgy", there has been far too much empire building, over spending and hugely inappropriate rate increases. Maybe we are starting to see some of the fallout from this?

[Ray]

It seems that another of our (ratepayers) problems may have re-emerged. I have been told that our new (probably temporary) CEO is going to commute between his home in Burra and his workplace in Jamestown at ratepayers expense. I realise that the vehicle is provided as part of his package, but for a man on $110,000+ pa I can't see why we should pay his expenses because he elects not to live close to his employment.

I'm told that our Council is in serious debt,  one would think that it is high time that we made it a condition of employment that our Council CEO either lives in Jamestown, or pays his own travel expenses as everyone else has to.

[utegirl70]

Why the heck are they employing someone from another town/district?! Isn't anyone up for the job in Jamestown?


Vote 1 for Ray! 

[Ray]

I'm damned if I know. It's pretty obvious that you don't need much in the way of brains to do the job with the way that the finances have been managed in this town over the last few years.

My rates went up by 26% last year, and there is talk that they will be going up by as much as 15% this year.  That is nothing less than extortion, and if any other business tried to do the same the Government regulatory body would ask for a please explain. It seems that they think the ratepayers have bottomless pockets.  My income went up by 3.1% last year, they forget that we can't just dive into the public purse to finance our lives.

I say that they should be looking at cutting down on expenditure rather than just putting up the rates.

[utegirl70]

And pray do tell, what exactly do they do for this rate increase?




There's a joke somewhere or other, about what you'd expect for paying that kind of $$$$. Something about at least getting to 1st base, or a hot meal.

[Ray]

And pray do tell, what exactly do they do for this rate increase?

Well, judging on past performance if these rumours are even halfway right,.... not a lot.

There's a joke somewhere or other, about what you'd expect for paying that kind of $$$$. Something about at least getting to 1st base, or a hot meal.

If it's a joke, it's in extremely poor taste, anyway, as yet I fail to see it.

[Ray]

On the radio this morning Leon Byner was talking to a number of persons in Adelaide, who are up in arms over the rate rises in Adelaide's 19 Municipal Councils, where it was stated "that some were going to rise by as much as 6.1%".  Oh shock, Oh horror!!!

I wonder what they would have thought if they were told that, not only did their rates increase by 26% last year, but they would be rising by 12.5% each year for the next three years to try and dig the Council out of the financial mess that they have gotten us into with their incompetence.

I'm just waiting until I can ask, "exactly how much are we in the hole for" and "will our rates return to pre 2010 levels once we are in the clear"?  I'm sure that the stories I will be told, would make Hans Christian Andersen blush with envy.

One thing that i'm willing to bet money on is that, they won't sell off any of the huge accumulation of expensive machinery and council vehicles that seem to be used by everyone from the CEO to the Office girls, and they certainly won't downsize the salaried staff or remove their ratepayer funded perks.

The one thing that was most repeated in this morning's discussions, is that councils have lost their sense of direction, they see themselves as "businesses" rather than "Rates, Roads and rubbish" which is in fact their core raison d'etre.

[Ray]

We received our Jamestown Journal yesterday and there was a short letter in it expressing the disappointment of one of our ex-councillors at the resignation of our last Council CEO.  

Well, I never knew our last CEO personally, but as the responsible person overseeing our Council's nose diving decline into crippling debt, I fail to see how the the writer can make claims like,

It leaves me, along with many others wondering as to why the present council would want to call for his resignation when he obviously bought such talent to the position

The only possible reply I could make to that, is,  "and since when did we need a man so talented in the oversight of obvious fiscal neglect".  I might suggest that logic such as this may well be the reason why the writer was not re-elected in the last council elections.

It is noted that the writer does so from a position of great financial comfort, where a few hundred dollars on his rates would be of little concern, totally without thought for the many, pensioners and others on lower fixed incomes who are often reduced to counting change at the end of their weekly, fortnightly or monthly income cycle.

The other rather questionable stement was:

I don't think the six new councillors gave themselves enough time to understand the progressive nature of the council

I find it hard to see how he can justify the use of the word "progressive" when talking about a council who it seems is completely without the slightest understanding of the most basic fiscal principals.  Progress is fine, but it appears that someone forgot that it has to be paid for.

In short, it might seem that past councillors feel that our district's ratepayers have bottomless pockets.

[Ray]

This morning, I finally bit the bullet and went to our Council ofice and asked exactly how much money the NAC is in debt for,...  

I was given the undivided attention of our Finances Officer Mr. David Rattley for what must have been over 30 minutes or more, and will say that I was given  a very fair hearing and David also explained some of his side iof the argument as well. The short answer is approximately $5.9 million,.... this is not counting the interest, and a few small loans which I'm told are the responsibility of other bodies. I have no idea what this will amount to, but I can see the need for it to be paid off as quickly as possible.
 
I feel that David's case was certainly not without merit, but in the end, as I said, "It's no use having a modern and progressive council and town, if a percentage of the ratepayers can't afford to live here. In short the council appears to be living beyond the means of it's ratepayers. Having said this I was shown an agenda for investigations by our council to try and reduce costs and while we were looking at this it was pointed out to me that they are also starting to reduce the annual growth of our deficit.

Now I am no financial wizard, but from what i was shown it appears that moves are certainly afoot by our present council members to rectify our current problems,... it's just a pity that it's the ratepayers who will be putting their hands in their pockets to do it.

The one thing that did concern me greatly, was that I could be given no assurance that our rates would return to a percentage of our incomes similar to that prior to this mess.

I think that it might be a good idea for as many ratepayers as possible to attend the ratepayers meeting that has been forecast.

[Ray]

Just in case you have not bothered to sit down and work it out,....  with last years rate increase and the projected rate increases for the next three years,
for every $100 of rates that I paid in 2009, I will be paying $179.40 in 2013,

A 79.4% increase (such are the wonders of compound interest) This equates to an average of 19.85% p.a.

If I really wanted to live in a place where I could experience the delights of this kind of inflation, I would have moved to somewhere like Venezuela (22.9%) or Vietnam (17.52%) These charming places currently enjoy the world's two highest rates of inflation. Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/World-Economy/Inflation-Rates.aspx

And some people wonder why I'm angry

[Ray]

I have changed the title of this thread.

Today a public meeting was held in the Jamestown Council Chambers.  I was at first slightly disappointed with the turnout, but of course being a weekday and held at 10:00am  it was understandable that many would not be able to attend. There is another meeting being held tonight at 6:00pm, I will be interested to hear how many attended and to also their opinions as to what  is discussed.

I won't go on at length about this morning's meeting, but I will say that I came away feeling a little better,... definitely not happy,...  but perhaps "resigned" to my fate. The long and the short of it being that the great majority of our present woes are the result of excesses by the previous council, and now we have no choice but to pay off the debt, which we were told will get worse before it gets better due to previous commitments.

I was impressed with the openness of the Chairman Ben Brown and his forthright approach to the questions asked, once again David Rattley also gave a very clear and open  account of all matters directed his way.  I was slightly skeptical of several figures given but having nothing more than hearsay to back my case kept my mouth firmly shut.  e,g it was stated that the costs for the new footbridge were "a little less than $300,000" whereas rumour has it, as around double that.  Knowing how easy it is to shuffle figures from one account to another I never persued the matter but if I were a gambling man I'd wager my next years pension that the finished cost will be closer to the latter than the former.

It will be interesting to hear the impressions of some of those at tonight's meeting.

[hatchbackgirl75]

Wowee ... got our rates notice today. Nasty! Our property valuation is near double what it was when we bought the house, and higher than the local real estate agents are quoting us to sell it, but still ... very big rate increase.

On the upside, we are building a new house just after the start of a new financial year so we don't get a rates notice for this one for almost a year but given how high the rates are on a 'cheap' house, I'm not sure I want to know what they will be on a more expensive one. Better not be $3000, we're on a low income ...

[Ray]

Yes, we received ours too. All I can say is that it makes me think that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if the police were called. I was under the impression that extortion was illegal. 

[hatchbackgirl75]

We bought this house at the start of financial year 2008. Now its 2011. Just found my rates notice for that year - our current rates are slightly more than TRIPLE what we were paying in 2008. Yes, 3.1 times higher.

That's a pretty serious increase over CPI.

[hatchbackgirl75]

OMG just found out someone we know in Adelaide, with a valuation of $390,000 (ie, well over double our valuation) is paying about $700 LESS than we are paying out here in sunny Jamestown.

I feel well and truly ripped off