Wollongong is a city in terminal decay. The old town hall has lost it's audience license because fire safety has deteriorated to an unsafe level. Rock pools are being fenced off because there are no funds to repair them - and the city road network is a mass of pot holes approaching danger level.
A report has delivered a " responsible scenario " for rectification, but it is one which will require the citizens to bite the bullet and accept a sharp increase in fiscal responsibility.
Rates will need to increase by 2.3% each year above the inflation level, fees and charges increase by 4.1% - and services will decrease by 1.6%, but precisely which services have not been mentioned. At the same time, the city will need to undertake a borrowing that will saddle ratepayers with a debt of $ 156.3 million.
If this is implemented, work spending will increase from the present $ 27 million a year to a whopping $ 224.5 million - and recovery will become a reality.
There is just one fly in the ointment - and it's called " The Gateway Centre ".
This tourist development at Bulli Tops started as a modest initiative mix of council and private funding. Before the first sod was turned political activists crawled out of the woodwork and the plans escalated - and so did the cost. It is now slated to cost $ 7.7 million - and unofficial estimates put the cost at completion nearer $ 10 million.
The problem is that control of council spending is in the hands of elected councillors - and these people are political animals. If the " Responsible Scenario " is implemented there is every chance that a fair proportion of the money raised will not go to repairing eroded infrastructure - but will be diverted to new " pie in the sky " initiatives of a vote catching nature.
Maybe now would be a good time to stand down elected councillors for a period of time - ten years would be a good target - and put control of the city and it's finances solely in the hands of our new CEO.
We need to steer a dedicated course and direct spending to refurbishing the ageing and derelict city structure without crazy excursions into new projects with a political theme. That will not be achieved unless we remove the obstacle that has resulted in the present financial mess. It seems impossible to have elected councillors without politics intruding into council affairs - with the disastrous results that are now apparent.
Let sanity prevail - and the CEO get on with the job !
No comments:
Post a Comment