Wine, lobster, consultants: how Wingecarribee Council wasted $15.7m of ratepayers money

From millions of dollars spent on external consultants to lobster dinners, recent reports have uncovered “horrific” mismanagement of ratepayer funds at a regional council.

From lobster dinners to fancy wine gifts, an investigation has revealed the extent of mismanagement of ratepayer money by Wingecarribee Shire Council.

Whether it was $700 worth of gift cards or thousands spent on “hotel familiarisation”, it adds up to an expensive bill for the community.

The extent of the council’s mismanagement of residents’ rates has become obvious in the past two council meetings, with more than $15 million dollars wasted without transparent explanations.

Interim Administrator Viv May said the suspended councillors were focused on “perceived entitlement, ego and personality” and thought the council “was above the law”. According to Mr May’s review, important council decisions were made behind closed doors and sometimes without the knowledge of all of the councillors.

An examination of the expenses shows the unchecked spending was rife throughout the council executive, as former councillor Garry Turland argued many times.

The past few months in the Wingecarribee Shire have brought revelation after revelation about the now-suspended council. Photo Wesley Lonergan

“They never controlled it. They never had processes or protocol in place,” he said.

Through a lack of accountability, the ratepayers are left paying the $15.7 million bill.

Misuse of credit cards = $9,889

From hundreds of dollars on wine to lobster dinners and thousands spent on familiarising staff with local hotels, the expenses charged to the council credit cards paint a revealing picture of the council. The expenses deemed not in line with the council policy have been laid out in a report, like the parking ticket for which ratepayers footed the bill.

Mr May said the report into the expenditure claimed by senior staff on their credit cards raised “very serious issues”. Suspended councillor Ian Scandrett went a step further, calling the report’s findings “horrific”.

The report found senior management staff spent a combined average of $22,000 a month over 88 payment cards. Throughout the review, the report identified numerous “shortfalls in relation to policy compliance and transparent explanations for expenditure”.

Former Cr Turland called for transparency around councillor credit cards when he was on council and said it was a matter of course for councillors to “milk” and “abuse” the cards.

In total, the report found the senior staff spent nearly $10,000 on expenses that either weren’t transparent or didn’t comply with the guidelines provided for council staff. The details are below.

Potentially illegal loans = $900,000

In the council meeting on August 11, Mr May shared the concern of General Manager Lisa Miscamble that some of the loans extended by the Wingecarribee Council could potentially be illegal.

The loans, which Mr May said totalled approximately $900,000, were given to community and sporting organisations in the Southern Highlands with little documentation or transparency.

Former councillor Garry Turland and suspended councillor Ian Scandrett repeatedly called for more financial transparency in council. Picture: Wingecarribee Shire Council

“One of the so-called loans is for $220,000 and has no legal or written obligation for repayment and appears to be interest free,” he said.

Former Cr Turland said he had seen many of these agreements during his tenure, including a lucrative “loan” to the Rugby Club which didn’t require repayment.

“It wasn’t right,” he said.

“We had no control of the money or how they spent it.”

External consultants = nearly $4 million

Community concerns around the transparency of council were heightened when Mr May revealed the council spent just under $4 million on external consultants over four years.

The staffing expenses averaged $800,000 a year for temporary staff in the planning department, which has been notoriously understaffed for years.

Mr May said the “significant expenditure” created a perception in the community that consultants could be playing both sides of the field by working for council and also providing advice to applicants.

The newly refurbished and costly Wingecarribee Shire Council Chambers.

Civic Centre = $10.8 million

The mismanagement of council funds is well documented in relation to large projects like Station St, but Cr Turland is right to call the Civic Centre a “disaster”.

Construction started on the Council Chambers and Civic Centre in January 2020 and it is still yet to be completed. The Finch Report shows council had accepted the tender for the project and signed a contract before the Office of Local Government had approved the refurbishment.

Mr May said the cost of renovating the Civic Centre, which will house the Moss Vale Library, had become vastly more expensive without an explanation.

“Council accepted a contract of $6.8 million and the now allocated funds are $10.8 million – nearly 60% more,” he said.

The multimillion-dollar increase in expense has not been explained by documentation, much like the mysteriously inflating cost of the failed Station St project.

Mr May labelled the General Manager and Mayoral meeting rooms as “extravagant” and questioned whether the council had received value for the millions of dollars of ratepayers‘ money spent.

“In relation to this building, it’s as muddy as the landscaping outside,” he said.

“I’m not saying that there’s any impropriety, but let’s just get to the truth.”

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