Speaking at the Local Government Association of NSW Annual Conference, President, Councillor Sara Murray, said the three major challenges facing Councils in the State were planning issues, ratepegging and reform of Local Government. Staged from 9–12 November, the Conference was hosted by the City of Albury.
Councillor Murray said that with planning matters she is very concerned about the push from the development sector to simplify the process and edge out the role of elected representatives.
“The removal of elected representatives from the equation is not accepted,” she said. “Our involvement in these decisions forms the basis of good democratic planning. My reply to argument about different approaches from Council to Council is, why shouldn’t there be if planning is to be locally based? The planning system is complex and good planning must involve the local community and elected representatives, as this is what we are elected for.”
Turning to ratepegging, Sara Murray said that since its introduction 26 years ago, it has done little more than cover wage increases over a period where Local Government has provided ever increasing services.
“Yet in the current reform debate Councils are accused of not keeping up with infrastructure renewal,” she said. “Cost increases to Councils must be reflected in ratepegging levels. The Local Government and Shires Associations have developed a model to achieve this by putting ratepegging on a sustainable level.”
Councillor Murray said that the Government’s reform agenda for Local Government cannot be based solely on boundary changes, but must include financial sustainability.
In his address, Premier Bob Carr said that the State could no longer afford many small Councils that are unworkable and the Government wants Councils to sort this out for themselves.
“Some 60 Councils have looked at boundary changes and 172 came up with proposals for efficiency savings through sharing resources and staff,” Bob Carr said. “Last year 116 Councils spent more than they earned and 30 are currently on the Department’s financial watch list. We can’t ignore this challenge but how do we deal with it?”
The Premier said that, unlike the Victorian model in the mid 90s, his Government will work in partnership with Local Government. It is providing $2 million to assist Councils in establishing consultation processes with their local communities to allay people’s fears, and Council staff will be protected with a three year moratorium on redundancies.
Local Government Minister, Tony Kelly, said that current indications of the reform process are that most Councils will be able to go to the polls on 27 March 2004, but some may be delayed.
