A recent survey has revealed that many Australian cities are headed to financial disaster. Such is the case with the two Illawarra cities of Wollongong and Shellharbour.
The difference is that disaster for Wollongong is imminent - while Shellharbour has a little breathing space before it strikes.
The reason is fairly obvious. Wollongong is an old city with very little expansion land left while Shellharbour only became a city in recent decades - and is fast expanding on what was once agricultural land.
The infrastructure of Wollongong is old - and that of Shellharbour is more recent - and therefore less in need of repair.
In the past council rates provided the income to maintain cities but in recent times more and more social services and other state and Federal services have been dumped on councils.
This follows a pattern. The provision of a service is made a council responsibility and is financed with funding - but that funding is on a renewable term. In most cases, when that term expires the funding is sharply reduced - and in many cases ceases completely - dropping the financial burden on council resources.
Councils are at the mercy of Federal and state treasuries - and hence grants to maintain services are subject to political whim. The time is now for councils to demand a better deal and the obvious source should be a fixed percentage of the Goods and Services tax ( GST ).
Two factors coincide to make this a practical reality. The GST is universal and applies to all citizens - and non-citizen visitors to this country. Council financing would be fair and equitable if a percentage of the GST collected was made available to councils on a per capita basis.
This would remove the political factor of councils presenting a begging bowl to state and Federal treasurers - and provide a predictable amount of income in addition to rates to plan their works programme.
Without change, disaster looms !
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