I’m afraid the upcoming council elections give me little if any confidence things might change for the better as far as service delivery is concerned.
Ever since the Wyong and Gosford councils merged it has been one debacle after the other.
The merge in itself was an absolute failure in terms of cost reduction and service delivery.
Indeed we could say both have gone backwards.
The last elected administration almost sent us broke which resulted in astronomical increases in rates and taxes.
The books are now apparently okay but rates continue to increase.
Any fool can make the books look good if you simply pass on costs to consumers.
Will this change? Not likely.
I have watched closely the spruiking of various nominees for council, most of whom are politically aligned, and I see a wide range of promises that extend beyond the scope of local government responsibilities.
Prospective councillors would do us all a favour if they moved away from trying to out-do federal and state governments and focused on the fundamentals for which local government is intended.
I’m talking about the development and maintenance of local infrastructure (roads, pathways, parks, sporting facilities, essential services), development planning and approvals, and support to local community and sporting organisations.
Forget housing, climate change and other trendy populist issues; that’s for others.
The new council has an opportunity to make its mark here; to improve services while reducing costs to ratepayers.
It needs to put the scythe through the organisation.
It needs to develop a strong, meaningful and achievable strategic plan which should be made public and include a drastic reduction in staff, property and equipment in favour of a small administration with maximum outsourcing of services.
Give the work to the experts and save dramatically on the cost of labour and materials.
My guess is this will be all too hard for most councillors who are more concerned about themselves than they are the community.
Prove me wrong, please!
Email, Jul 18
John George, Terrigal