Central Coast Council has agreed to valuations being included on reports following the sale of Council assets as part of its financial recovery plan.
Administrator, Rik Hart, agreed to the move after hearing from community activist Joy Cooper prior to the Council meeting on August 23, which saw him adopt an update on the Asset Disposal Program.
Cooper spoke at the public forum before the meeting, asking for exchange dates be published along with valuations and the dates of those.
“A note should also be on the table if there were any reviews of the valuations pre agreement of sale price considering the white-hot real estate market we were experiencing,” Cooper said.
“Surely the ever-patient residents should know what conditions of sale were agreed to for exchanges to occur – especially as these good residents had to suffer rate increases and loss of community land.
“As I’m sure you realise … delayed settlement benefits the purchaser in a booming market and not the seller.”
Cooper also asked for information on agents’ commissions and the dollar value paid to valuers and consultants to be made public.
“Residents deserve to see the full costs of the sale of these sites,” she said.
“Now that the $60M cash target has been easily and quickly reached with the sell-off of these community owned assets, please … cease any further sell offs of public land.”
Cooper said the community had been promised no environmental land sales or fire sales and that both promises had been broken.
“The aim of every government body should be total transparency for the good of democracy and for the good of the people,” she said.
Hart agreed to valuations on asset sales being shown once the sale is complete and asked for the total raised to be added to the list of sales as well as the valuations.
But he would not agree to list agents fees’ and made no promises that Council won’t sell land in the future, with staff still looking at land that could be sold for affordable housing.
Council is still to sell the land in Mann St Gosford including the old Council chambers, which is the subject of an MOU with the State Government, which intends to develop a TAFE precinct on the site.
The update approved on August 23 detailed properties sold over the period from June 1, 2021, to August 15, 2022, and included sites at Mannering Park, Wyongah, San Remo, Toukley, Long Jetty, Tuggerah, Wyong, Jilliby, Warnervale, Bateau Bay and Doyalson.
Terry Collins