In the article in the December 28, 2016 edition of the Great Lakes Advocate it states that MidCoast Council has decided not to pursue its application for a Special Rate Variation (SRV) – for the meantime.
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This statement is incorrect as it was the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) that rejected council’s notification of its intention to apply for a SRV as the NSW Government had directed that no merged council could apply for a SRV for three years.
Therefore, council was forced by the NSW Government not to proceed with a further impost of an increase in rates (maybe it also had something to do with the social media anger referred to in your article)
It is obvious that council had expended considerable staff resources and consultant costs (asset management and market research) in preparing the information that was the basis of the Community Update Sessions in November and a recent council meeting.
In my opinion, the administrator, interim general manager and senior management should instead be focusing on developing an integrated strategic management plan for the merged council area to identify new more efficient, reduced cost ways of delivering services and more effective ways of engaging with all levels of the residential, commercial, industrial and rural communities.
This will make the new council more sustainable and financially viable and hopefully break the nexus of ongoing rate increases.
I understand that staff is working hard to understand all the issues and to integrate systems and the ways teams work together, but more needs to be done, more quickly so that most of the hard decisions have been made before a new council is elected in September 2017.
I am concerned that council at this stage is focusing on roads and bridges and not really considering community buildings, commercial property, drainage, parks, plant, information technology and human resource assets.
A unique opportunity for council now exists for it to finalise its community engagement policy and to sit down and inform, consult, collaborate and empower the community to assist in developing a new service delivery, financial and capital works strategy that will pave the way for new sustainable future for MidCoast Council and the region.
I trust that this will enable the community to have a say in how the $14 Million Stronger Communities Fund will be allocated across all asset classes and not just on roads and bridges.
