Logan braces for Budget sting but freezes water bill for fourth year
Logan ratepayers are bracing for a tough council budget after foreboding comments by the mayor and news the city was shouldering a $1.9 million deficit.
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LOGAN ratepayers are bracing for a tough council budget after foreboding comments by the mayor at this week’s full council meeting and news the city was shouldering a $1.9 million deficit.
But a day after foreshadowing an austere budget, mayor Darren Power said there was “some good news” with the council component of a water bill frozen for the fourth year in a row.
“That’s a great outcome for residents,” he said. “We understand what’s going on out there.”
The state government’s “bulk water” charge however, went up 3.5 per cent on July 1 in Logan.
Other good news, he said, was a move by senior officers to turn down a pay rise for six months of this year, in line with councillors voting to turn down a wage rise last month.
The mood was less upbeat on Wednesday, when the mayor told this week’s council meeting, the budget, due on July 20, “may not be popular”.
Cr Power started his warning to ratepayers saying all people were human and made mistakes and “this world is in short supply of leadership”.
“And it’s not necessarily the popular decision we are looking for that is the right decision …”
He went on to talk about the state government decision to close the NSW border before hinting at an unpopular budget.
“The budget is coming up. It may not be popular but, I tell you what, it will stand the test of time and it will be responsible.”
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He was speaking after the city’s dismal financial statements up until the end of May were tabled, showing a whopping $1.23 million in council expenditure was due to the impact of the coronavirus.
The waste levy was highlighted as a problem after an increased gate fee hit commercial customers curbing their use and cutting into council revenues.
Fees and charges were also down by $2.7 million to the end of May due to a fall in development applications and the council refunding up to $500,000 in licence renewal fees.
Bucking the trend was water revenue due to dry conditions in the September and December quarters.
The council also spent more than it had expected with its operating expenditure being $7.7 million more than what was budgeted for until the end of May.
The council said that blow out was predominately due to the purchase of bulk water and due to additional call-out and overtime costs and an increase in employee contributions.
The council said it was noted in the last committee that the increase in revenue relating to water was directly offset by an increase in water costs.