Dear Editor,
Cabonne Shire’s financial position raises a fairly simple question: how is council actually going to fix it? And when?
The budget figures are not new, and councillors have known for some time that the council faces an underlying operating deficit.
Grants and contributions can make the overall numbers look considerably healthier, but they cannot be relied upon to solve the ongoing cost of running council.
Especially if we don’t get any grants or contributions…
Sure there’s surveys and “community consultation” aimed at getting people’s opinions on what to cut, and when.
The real, actual, and difficult question is: what happens next?
When is the razor gang going to hit the road?
How is the council going to find genuine savings?
Whose services will be reduced?
When will rates and charges increase?
How will the council defer maintenance or infrastructure projects?
Some, if not all, of these things are going to have to happen. That is the reality, we’re being buttered up for it.
So ratepayers deserve a clear explanation of how the council is going to get ordinary income and expenditure back into balance.
It is easy enough to approve a budget that includes millions of dollars in grants for specific projects.
The harder task is making sure the council can afford to keep operating year after year.
Cabonne residents should be asking their councillors one simple question: what is the plan to fix the underlying financial problem, and when can we expect to see the results?
Yours sincerely,
Bruce Holmes
Cargo