Eleven community members addressed a special residents’ forum called before the Central Coast Council’s Extraordinary General Meeting on March 13 to discuss the tabling of the draft financial reports of the former Gosford Council.
Questions common to all speakers included: how long had the sloppy accounting practices been going on; and why were they not detected earlier?
Mr Kevin Armstrong said he had lived on the Coast for 43 years, “raised a family and run a business in Gosford CBD and I am bloody proud of the place.
“I was really pained the other morning when I heard on the ABC that the Premier had been briefed on the alarming findings in Gosford Council’s accounts.”
Mr Armstrong said he was unapologetically of the view that the merger of Gosford and Wyong Councils was a mistake.
“I think the Central Coast is a growing area and it will outgrow the capacity of one council to administer it.”
He said he believed the information revealed in the draft accounts of the former Gosford Council called into question the validity of the votes held by both former Councils that narrowly resulted in their agreement to merge.
“There has been some … misrepresentation of facts, and none of the Central Coast Councillors voted in full knowledge of the state of Gosford’s books,” he said.
He said the $74 million of assets that could not be located or verified was “very big”.
He thanked Mr Rob Noble, CEO, and Mr Ian Reynolds, for bringing the issues out into the public.
Mr Armstrong raised the point that rates and water charges were determined by IPART based on the value of a Council’s assets.
“At the very least, I think it is valid to call for delaying elections until Council can give a clean bill of health to the Gosford accounts.
“Anyone considering standing for Councillor would have to think very carefully,” he said.
Dr Stephen Goodwin, from Mangrove Mountain, applauded the efforts that the Council had found discrepancies and forwarded its own findings to ICAC.
“It represents a forensic approach to mismanagement at the highest level, presumably done without fear or favour, done in the knowledge that court proceedings may result that may have implications for the current council,” Dr Goodwin said.
He questioned, in light of the forensic approach taken by Central Coast Council to the former Gosford Council’s accounts, why Council had resisted opportunities presented to it by Mountain Districts Association (MDA) to take a similar level of interest in the landfill at Mangrove Mountain.
Dr Goodwin said Council had told MDA that the landfill was one of the two most important issues it had before it, and was an “undeniable risk to the Central Coast water supply”.
“In the spirit of today’s meeting, the Central Coast Community urges Council to review its position on the Mangrove Mountain Landfill, and have the site closed and remediated to a standard acceptable to the community,” Dr Goodwin said.
Ms Joy Cooper from Green Point said she questioned the lack of information in the accounts about trust funds and trust reserves.
“Are there separate trust accounts for each Crown Land reserve, is income generated from a particular Crown Land reserve being put back into the trust account for the particular lot that the income is being derived from?” Ms Cooper questioned.
She said particular Crown Land reserves that generated income which should be easily accounted for included Gosford Tennis Courts and Leagues Club Field.
Sources of income that needed to be banked specifically for the particular reserves the income was generated from included the summer circus on Leagues Club Field and the pie shop on the waterfront near the boat ramp car park.
“With the water park income on Crown Land, will it be invested back into that lot as it should be under the Crown Lands Act?
Ms Cooper also asked: “Is it possible for residents to ask questions of Council’s financial officer once residents have had time to have a proper look and will the findings of the audit be made public?”
Mr David Abrahams also thanked the executive team of Central Coast Council for bringing the issues related to the former Gosford Council’s accounting practices to public light.
“At last we have some sunlight on these issues,” Mr Abrahams said.
He said allowing uncomfortable things to come forward would build confidence in the community, but past practices definitely presented a strong argument for better governance.
“In the past, deals were done to expedite them quickly, but good decisions are decisions made on consensus,” he said.
Mr Abrahams said the lack of investment in Gosford over the past 40 years was “because of the current situation”.
He told of bringing two big industry superannuation funds to the Coast, but because their first stop was Gosford, they cancelled a “serious investment proposal” within half an hour of arriving.
“If you don’t have confidence, if you don’t build on consensus, you scare away investment,” he said.
Mr Abrahams also asked questions of Council including whether the need for further investigation of Gosford’s accounts would have an impact on the timing of the local election.
“Will the asset write downs in fact change the valuation and interest rate on current and future loans the council, the ratepayers, have to pay?” he asked.
He called for Council to “elevate the situation and collaborate with the very best people so the new, elected Council can stand with confidence of the very best governance practices”.
Interview notes,
Mar 13, 2017
Extraordinary General Meeting, Central Coast Council
Jackie Pearson, journalist