Problems With Our Council.

[Ray]

What a pity the Council Information night has passed.   

It would have been a very good question for the council team to be asked to explain.

These Q&A meetings are a farce anyway, as the council have absolutely no intention of taking the ratepayers seriously. They know that if push comes to shove, they can use our money to fight us in the courts,... and then they make us pay for their legal costs.

[Tamren]

Got my rate notices...........did a calculation....22% increase !!!!!

[CableGuy]

I have watched this item off and on for a while now, I understand that the council intends to examine all their areas of expenditure and it will be interesting to see what happens. The other option is, as we are all aware is to increase the revenue. I have a few more suggestions -

1/ Install pay as you use, locks on the public toilets.
2/ How about parking meters in the street and at foodland.
3/ Registration of chooks and budgies would raise a dollar or so.
4/ Make the 4 entry/exit roads into the town - toll roads.
5/ Issue permits for all those people who walk on the footpaths.
6/ Follow the state government and bring in fees for parking at the hospital, or dentists.
7/ Bring in local surcharges on things like - postage, power, vehicle registrations etc. etc.
8/ What about TV licences.
9/ A turnstile on the new bridge.
10/ Gophers to be registered, and fitted with trip meters to charge by the distance they travel.
11/ Same with bikes.


Well as my old mate said - dont be silly
So I will bugger off now
Gee!

[Ray]

^^^ Wadda ya mean,... since when did you ever have a mate?

[tricky]

I have watched this item off and on for a while now, I understand that the council intends to examine all their areas of expenditure and it will be interesting to see what happens. The other option is, as we are all aware is to increase the revenue. I have a few more suggestions -

1/ Install pay as you use, locks on the public toilets.
2/ How about parking meters in the street and at foodland.
3/ Registration of chooks and budgies would raise a dollar or so.
4/ Make the 4 entry/exit roads into the town - toll roads.
5/ Issue permits for all those people who walk on the footpaths.
6/ Follow the state government and bring in fees for parking at the hospital, or dentists.
7/ Bring in local surcharges on things like - postage, power, vehicle registrations etc. etc.
8/ What about TV licences.
9/ A turnstile on the new bridge.
10/ Gophers to be registered, and fitted with trip meters to charge by the distance they travel.
11/ Same with bikes.


Well as my old mate said - dont be silly
So I will bugger off now
Gee!

Thought I might offer a few alternative options.

1.  Halve the number of staff working at the Council.
2.  Reduce the pay of the remaining people by around 50% & ask them to work overtime for no pay.
3.  Immediately suspend all non life threatening road & footpath repairs.
4.  Ask ratepayers to dispose of their own rubbish.
5.  Disconnect all septic tanks & allow ratepayers to pump their waste onto their yards.
6.  Refuse to pay subcontractors promptly thus improving the Council's cash position.
7.  Make all people responsible for their own accidents & cancel all liability insurances.
8.  Provide toilet brushes & cleaning tools for the public to keep the toilets tidy.
9.  Demand that all council employees using Council vehicles walk to work & live in Jamestown, or pay their own travel costs. (This will then guarantee a pool of highly motivated happy employees.)
10.Get ready for the influx of new residents who want to live in a town with all of the benefits & extremely low rates that these actions will deliver. LOL.

JUST JOKING!!!!

[Ray]

Jeez,..  I wouldn't joke too loudly about a couple of those points, they seem to line up pretty well with what some ratepayers are saying.

I like numbers 1, 7, and 9 enough to hold up my hand.   Especially number 9. The only exception being that, as far as i'm concerned they can live in Outer Mongolia if they wish, but they commute at their own expense the same as every one else. Mind you. I feel that they would take more interest in our town if they were also ratepayers here. As for being "happy", they have the same options that employees  have everywhere else, if they are not happy, they are perfectly free to move on. (I'd love a dollar for every time I've heard that).

I would also not object to number 8.

[annettecooke]

As much as it seems that The Northern Areas Council are in strife and not keeping their eyes on the ball , Im sorry to say this is the same situation that most Councils are facing. Even in Sunny queensland, the super Councils are performing very poorly and seem to be only upsetting their constituents more and more each and every day.

[Susie]

Just proves a point ...... "bigger is not always best!!"

[Ray]

That's very true. The biggest reason for it happening in Jamestown is Grandstanding Council Staff  who are doing a bit of Empire building.

I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but the CEOs salary is based on the Rate revenue, so it's in his interest to see rates go up. To me this is a conflict of interest, and it should be reversed. Another little snippet of information that I've heard (ABC Radio), but have not verified is that, whilst our council were busy trying to hide the scale of our debt from the ratepayers, members of the council staff voted themselves a 25% over award pay increase.  It's not good enough that they are inept, they want us to pay them more for that ineptitude.

This empire building, trickles all the way down through all departments with everyone competing to see who can build the biggest fiefdom within that empire.