Residents will have some answers over Central Coast Council’s financial crisis when Administrator Dick Persson hands down his initial report on December 2.
Persson will table his report detailing Council’s financial situation at a public meeting, fulfilling his promise made when he was appointed Administrator that within 30 days he would produce a “plain English” report outlining the issues and a series of options on the way forward.
He flagged early on that those options could include rate rises, asset sales and other efficiencies.
Those options would be publicly canvassed in January and February before any final decisions were made, he said.
Since then, the Administrator has tabled a list of Council owned land to be offered for sale and said that more tranches of land will be coming. (See separate story Page 1)
At a press conference following a special meeting on November 26 about a possible rate rise (See separate story), Persson also announced that there would be “significant” reductions in management level staff.
“I think it is top heavy, it is something I noticed as soon as I came here, and we will be taking quite a number of levels of management out and that will bring relief to the (financial) bottom line,” Persson said.
He said the number of Council Director positions would be reduced from nine to five and there would be significant reductions in the next level of management, the unit manager level, which currently stands at 37.
It is estimated that about a quarter of the management and supervisor positions will go, with a saving of about $10M per year.
New directorates of Council will focus on the five core areas of water and sewer, community and recreation services, environment and planning, infrastructure and corporate affairs.
“The structure will ensure that there is a strong focus on finance and good governance as well as the core services,” Persson said.
Malcolm Ryan’s position as Chief Operating Officer is a temporary appointment to assist with the implementation of change within the organisation.
Negotiations are underway with the United Services Union and Persson said that there would more than likely be a redundancy program for staff.
The council’s first quarter financial report for this financial year will be tabled at the December 2 meeting.
September and October investment reports were tabled at the November 30 meeting, with September figures showing Council had a deficit of $121M in unrestricted funds.
The October figures showed a deficit of $100M – an improvement of $20M in one month.
Early in October, the Council found itself in serious financial problems with immediate liquidity issues.
Funds in the bank were quarantined as restricted funds under the Local Government Act.
How council found itself in this position is currently being investigated and is expected to be explained in the report from the Administrator.
Council has also started negotiations for a $100M loan for its capital works program, on top of the $50M loan the Administrator approved at a confidential November 11 meeting.
An $89M deficit for last year and a bail out of $6.2M from the State Government to pay Council staff wages and suppliers led ultimately to the suspension of all councillors and the appointment of Persson by Local Government Minister, Shelley Hancock, on October 30.
Sue Murray