The Beagle
Jun 25, 2019
Item GMR19/011
My name is Lei Parker, resident of Tuross and possibly an Extreme Green however this cannot be confirmed as Council’s scale of Greens has not been published.
I am neither For or Against and therefore am Neutral as I simply ask Councillors to consider their vote. I speak as a Neutral though you appear not to have such a category.
Councillors, today you will be voting on whether you should grant yourselves a 2.5% increase.
It has not gone unnoticed that this decision will be made on the same day you vote to exhibit the latest Fees and Charges fees that have all taken a hike skyward.
The vote for a Councillor and Mayor fee increase is also on the same Agenda that says the annual Ordinary Rates for 2019-20 are to rise 2.7%, the Environment Levy will increase 2.7%, the water consumption charge will increase by 1.3%, the water availability charge will increase by 3.0% and the sewer availability charge will increase by 2.1%.
Businesses across the shire will also be facing increases that no doubt they will have to pass on to consumers.
Many in the Shire are reliant on tourism which has been identified as the primary industry of the region only to recently be overtaken by Aged Care.
So will you vote yourselves a 2.5% rise today? Is one deserved?
Over the last year what have Councillors actually achieved? Very little in fact. Most of the accomplishment we see in the Shire is a result of the NSW State.
Yes, you have rubberstamped all of the reports and recommendations put before you however you have also pretty much ignored the opinion of those who voted for you and employ you, and who dared challenged your decisions in Public Forum. Council’s reputation under your watch is now at an all time low since the Great Dismissal of 1982.
But still you will vote in favour of the 2.5% rise.
Who pays for Councillor's wage rise? The Ratepayers. Yet they have no say today because you, the Councillors, alone get to vote for it yourselves. No KPI's, No measurement, no public input.
All up the wage rise is a minor thing. The rise will give you another $480 in your pockets with an additional $1500 for the Mayor.
Eurobodalla’s Mayor receives $61,430 per year and the councillors receive $19,310 per year.
The Mayor also has a council car provided that is, in the main, paid for by Council including fuel, rego and all running costs. The Mayor does pay $4000 towards private usage of the vehicle per annum. Keeping in mind the Mayor lives in a remote rural area the costs of this vehicle for fuel and running costs are considerable.
All up, $326,000 is currently paid to our Councillors and Mayor in salaries, phone and internet, travel and other.
Yet you will vote for a 2.5% increase.
Further south the Bega Valley councillors have turned down a proposed fee increase for the third year in a row.
Not only will you now demand of the community the extra rates and fees to meet your Operational Plan 2019-2020 but you will also have to find the extra $5300 a year for your councillors pay rise. And all that comes from the ratepayers purse.
Public Forum is now unseen and unheard with Eurobodalla Council the only council in the South East NSW to do so. There is no-one other than yourselves and those in the gallery that will witness this presentation and your subsequent questions and remarks.
No doubt you will state that 99% of the ratepayers agreed to the rise because only one or two from the community came forward to protest it.
If you are true to form you will most likely pat yourselves on the back and accept the rise for the great job you are doing, as has been the case for the past four years.
But isn’t it the ratepayers, the employers, who should make the decision and not YOU.
Council has long been of the opinion that the community endorse everything they do because there is very little protest other than from the “Usual Suspects”. It is however those “Usual Suspects”, that six or seven that attend Council meetings that hold you to your oath and have bought successive, and successful Codes of Conduct complaints including two recent ones that required one councillor to give an apology and another to attend six sessions to improve his communications with ratepayers.
By the actions of some of our present Councillors they have cost the ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars from the ratepayers purse to defend themselves against a surfeit of Codes of Conduct complaints raised by….. ratepayers.
Bega Valley Shire Mayor Kristy McBain told the media last week "It's the biggest conflict of interest we have" saying councillors should not vote on their own pay. She said she had taken the issue up with the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal last year.
What of the Eurobodalla Shire? Do you share Mayor McBain’s concerns?
Bega’s Cr Seckold was of the opinion that the current pay does not encourage good candidates, and also makes it difficult for underprivileged residents to become involved in local government while Cr Fitzpatrick said he has voted against a rise during his entire council career, and disagreed with the idea better pay would lure more talented residents.
Councillors, in light of the above, you might like to move that your combined rise be gifted to the local Salvation Army for the homeless of Eurobodalla to assist them to get through the remaining winter months ahead.