Gympie council pays $1.2m in Rattler divorce

Details of the final divorce agreement between Gympie council and the Mary Valley Rattler have been revealed, including who gets what and when ratepayers will finally have contributed their last funding.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig has revealed the finer details of the divorce agreement between the council and the Mary Valley Rattler.

Gympie ratepayers’ commitment to the Mary Valley Rattler has officially come to a close, but not without one last six figure lump sum payment.

A $1.2m final payment to the Rattler has been revealed as part of the deal which resulted in the heritage train and Gympie Regional Council splitting, in a move touted as a “win win”.

The rest of the deal included the expected waiving of the outstanding balance of a $1.1 million loan from the council and the transfer of the rail corridor from Amamoor to Imbil to the council amid plans to turn it into a rail trail.

The rebuilt heritage 767 locomotive will be returned to the council should the Rattler ever wind up.

“There might be other minor assets but the council has secured anything it possibly can given the size of the investment the ratepayers made initially,” Gympie Mayor Hartwig said on Thursday.

Gympie council is making one final $1.2m payment to the Mary Valley Rattler as part of the agreement, with the funding to be delivered in the 2022-23 financial year.

But the announcement on Wednesday, June 21, signalled the final bell for the financial relationship.

“This financial year is the last,” Mr Hartwig said.

“The deal we had was $450,000 per year, with no end date,” he said

“The deal we have now is a payment of $1.2m that will be paid out this financial year, which equates to three years of payments, and that’s it.”

Mr Hartwig said with this final payment the ratepayers’ investment since 2017 was now “$25 million-plus … which is a significant ratepayer expense”.

“As much as I didn’t like the way the former council handled that project, we do need to get behind the Rattler as a community and make sure it is here in decades to come.

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Mayor Glen Hartwig said the split between the council and the Rattler opened doors to possible funding opportunities the heritage train would have not been able to access while it was tied to local government regulations.

“This deal was supported by the Rattler and supported by the council, and is a great outcome.

“It protects the ratepayer for the future.”

The question of long term ratepayer investment cast a long shadow over the project, which was controversially resurrected in 2018 for about $18.1m, significantly more than the $10.8m initially promised.

The latest Queensland Audit Office report in council financial sustainability noted the Rattler’s “liabilities are higher than its assets”, and the Rattler’s own 2022 financial report noted it was dependent on the council’s ongoing support to keep afloat.

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Without the council’s support and the ability to generate profits, “there is uncertainty whether the company will continue”.

However, Mr Hartwig said the deal served the Rattler as it opened the door to new possible funding streams “they would not have a hope of getting while they were under the local government banner”.

“One of the commitments I made in early 2020 was to look to find a way to limit the financial liability that the ratepayer was encumbered with … but also look to protect and maintain the investment they made.”