A Gunnedah shire councillor says he could save ratepayers up to $10 million in asset sales and efficiency measures as the new council prepares to discuss the looming special rate variation proposal.
It comes after Gunnedah council recently consulted the community about implementing a 38.88 per cent special rate variation, spread over two years. The change would be permanent and in an effort to raise an additional $6.2 million in lost revenue. Council said the deficit is due to factors outside its control such as government funding and cost-shifting.
Gunnedah business owner and recently re-elected councillor Robert Hoddle said the proposed rate hike is far too high and a compromise is the only way forward.
“I think there is a general feeling it is a very steep increase and does impact unfairly on some sections of ratepayers,” Cr Hoddle said.
“Instead of one option ‘to do nothing’ or having the 38.88 per cent rate rise, there must be some middle ground.”
His first move would be a reduction of the rate increase to 30 per cent and introduced over three years instead of two – equating to a 10 per cent rise each year.
Cr Hoddle believes council could save up to $1 million by implementing his proposed efficiency measures which included better management of the Gunnedah pool.
He said the facility “lost $1.3 million” last year but could be improved by closing the 25m pool in summer and employing volunteer lifeguards to save wages, as well as installation of solar power at the pool.
“It’s too costly and needs to be brought under control,” Cr Hoddle said.
“It does seem excessive to have two pools running at the same time.”
Other efficiencies include outsourcing ground maintenance at Gunnedah Airport which he said lost $185,000 last year and closing the business grant program to recover a further $150,000.
He said there were extra efficiencies that could be gained from the Gunnedah Shire Library and The Civic which combined, lost almost $1 million last year.
Cr Hoddle is also proposing the planning division operates as a separate entity with “strict recovery cost guidelines” and “benchmarked for efficiency” to ensure council holds onto its department.
“The state government is threatening to take planning divisions away from councils if they don’t perform,” he said.
Cr Hoddle said asset sales could raise about $9 million in funding, including $5 million for the eventual sale of Gunnedah’s new koala park which he said is still without a tenant.
The councillor said any sale would be the “worse case” scenario and require a waiting period of several years given the project is almost entirely externally funded.
“The building itself has cost the ratepayer virtually nothing,” he said.
More worrying for Cr Hoddle is the dire predicament of the region’s koalas.
“The koala population in Gunnedah is virtually extinct – what remains is probably infertile because of chlamydia but council has still not taken a new direction with the project,” he said. “Council needs to decide what it’s going to do.”
He also proposed another $2 million could be recovered if council sold GoCo Community Care – an organisation which provides home and community care services to older people in Gunnedah and across the region. But Cr Hoddle said the organisation is “outside council’s role” and should be offloaded.
Cr Hoddle estimated another $2 million could be achieved through the sale of council-owned surplus land.
The councillor was aware that any proposed asset sales would be “very controversial” but said his intention was to start the conversation.
“I really put [the assets] in there to make people think that there are things that council can sell,” Cr Hoddle said.
“Rather than hold onto assets that are not really being used – sell and put them into something that’s needed.”
Other cost-saving measures included a reduction in consultants, review of council’s organisational structure to reduce one management position, and limiting the number of council representatives attending conferences.
Cr Hoddle has itemised each cost-saving estimate in his submission to Gunnedah Shire Council.
He suggested the $9 million raised through asset sales could be reinvested in capital works projects including roads, youth areas, sports fields and perhaps controversially, upgrades to council offices.
“For the last few years Gunnedah has had a big works program, a lot of government grants for the airport, saleyards, water treatment plant, koala park – that are coming to an end and council won’t have that responsibility of supervising all those works,” Cr Hoddle said.
“I’m not saying we should cut essential services … but council has to cut its cloth accordingly and look to where it can save money.”
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