North Burnett council will run out of money by 2025 unless drastic changes are made

‘We need to tell you everything’: North Burnett council comes clean in an emotional call to action.

The North Burnett community were called to action last night in the second Between a Rock and a Hard Place information session held by the council to address "grave" budgetary concerns for the region which could result in the organisation running out of money within five years.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 100 Gayndah residents at the Community Hall, North Burnett mayor Rachel Chambers said the council have found themselves "between a rock and a hard place".

"Our back is against the wall. We're running out of money," Cr Chambers said.

"We're running out of time and we're running out of options to save jobs."

Currently operating at a budget deficit of $7.8 million, Cr Chambers said if nothing changed the North Burnett will run out of money by 2025, due to a combination of factors Cr Chambers said started with amalgamation in 2008.

Cr Chamber said for the council to break even the rates would need to go up by 78 per cent.

"There's an amalgamation document that says upon the amalgamation of these councils, they will always be weak," Cr Chambers told the Central and North Burnett Times.

"It says (North Burnett towns) will heavily rely on state and federal funding and main roads contracts to survive into the future.

"But what happened was the state funding got removed, the federal funding got removed, and the main roads contracts got removed, and now they're looking at us and saying you're unsustainable."

After years of budget cuts and natural disasters wrecking financial havoc in the region, Cr Chambers said $166 million in disaster relief was a double edged sword.

"We're not used to that much money. It was great for the contractors in the region, great for our workforce, but not great for a financially struggling amalgamated council, because it helped mask our problems," she said.

"And it did not give us the capability and capacity to deal with them."

To slow the rate of council spending, Cr Chambers put forward a number of tough choices to the residents to gauge a preliminary idea of what they might be willing to sacrifice.

"This is not normal what we're doing. We have gone out on a limb because it's the only way that we've got a chance," Cr Chambers said.

"The worst fear of your councillors is we go out on a limb and we go alone."

This includes proposed changes to:

Pools - the community will decide whether to continue running five pools across the region, maintain only Gayndah and Eidsvold and run the other three until they need to be replaced, or only operate the Gayndah and Eidsvold pools.

Waste - a decision will be made between running waste facilities at the current hours or decreasing hours with increased efficiency.

Customer Service and Libraries - residents will decide between continuing to run six customer service and library centres, changing operating days, or changing the services offered.

Civil Works Grading of Roads/Road Maintenance - a decision will be made to continue main roads with current equipment, or resorting to dry grading roads where practical.

Mowing - the community will decide whether to continue the current mowing schedule, or stop mowing land not owned by the council.

"Even if we adopted every single proposed change that we have put to you tonight for this year's budget, we will still end up with a deficit of $5.5 million," Cr Chambers said.

This means the proposed changes are a temporary fix to the problem, and with the council unable to borrow from the treasury due to the regions propensity for natural disasters and low likelihood of being able to pay back loans, increased funding will be essential.

In a call to action for state and federal assistance, the council urged residents to sign a petition addressing the "grave inequities which currently exist for Local Governments to deliver services", and demanding to know what is in store for the North Burnett in the next 12 months.

"We had to put a flag in the ground and say, right, this is what we're doing," Cr Chambers said.

"We're going to our community with all this and we're going to put some offers on the table, but you've got to tell us in 12 months what the end game is.

"Is the end game that you just want us to waste away?

"Because if that's it, they can either tell us and be honest about it, or their lack of funding us will let us know."

Division two councillor Les Hotz said while the deficit is disappointing, he is optimistic that, with the right attitude, the North Burnett will one day achieve sustainability.

Cr Les Hotz said while the deficit is disappointing, he is optimistic the Council and community will persevere. Photo/Holly Cormack.

"I feel disappointed as a councillor that we have a deficit budget," Cr Hotz said.

"I feel ashamed that council has found itself in this predicament.

"But beaten? Not at all. Together, we as a team will meet, discuss, and debate until we have a solution to bring the regional council back to some sustainability."

Local business owner Kerry Shaw, KS Embroidery, said the announcement came as quite a shock, however she is glad the Council is now being upfront with the community.

"You hear stories about what's going on from people in the community, but I didn't know it was this bad," Ms Shaw said.

Ms Shaw said while this is a shock to the system, she hopes the community will be receptive to change.

Originally published as North Burnett council will run out of money by 2025 unless drastic changes are made