Cumberland Council could outsource childcare centres, pools, golf course
A cash-strapped western Sydney council is investigating whether it should offload the management of it childcare centres, swimming pools and golf courses as it tries to claw back $41 million lost over the past three years.
Parramatta
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Cash-strapped Cumberland Council is considering outsourcing its 17 childcare centres and swimming pools as part of a plan to bounce back after haemorrhaging $41 million over the past three years because of amalgamation and the coronavirus pandemic.
The council is now trying to salvage $4.5 million in savings and reduce the cost of services by 10 per cent through offloading senior living units, golf courses and the Holroyd Centre at Merrylands.
Childcare centres, which serve 600 families, could be outsourced to non-profit, community or non-government providers.
An economic statement states “council is also committed to ensuring that the same number of education and care places and the same employment numbers attached to this service remain within our LGA’’.
The rescue plan also explores outsourcing the management of the 71 seniors’ living units it owns at Platform and Church streets, Lidcombe and Euston, and Tavistock streets, Auburn.
Management of the council’s swimming pools — Wentworthville, Granville, Guildford and Merrylands — could also change course, with the council exploring outsourcing the management of the facilities to private providers, as it did with the Auburn Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre which is run by Belgravia Leisure.
“Private operators have had success with one of our swim centres and have proven they can run these facilities at a higher return than council can generate when running the facility,’’ Cumberland Council general manager Hamish McNulty said.
“The most appropriate time to do this is whilst the Wentworthville Swim Centre facility is nearing the completion of its refurbishment.’’
Wentworthville pools are undergoing a $8.9 million overhaul, featuring a 50m pool, learn-to-swim pool, splash pad to replace the baby pool, private change rooms and a cafe, which is due to be complete by January.
In May, the council announced it would delay the $5 million Guildford Pool upgrade until Wentworthville swim centre was complete.
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At Merrylands, The Holroyd Centre will be the subject of a business review to determine whether the function hub is profitable enough for the council to continue operating.
The economic statement also says it will evaluate “whether there are options that can be identified to improve its performance”.
Ahead of COVID-19, the Miller St function centre made about $1 million a year in revenue and hosts up to 500 events annually.
On the green, golfers might have to take their buggies elsewhere if Auburn Golf Club, which the council said was “next to” Woodville Golf Course at Guildford, shuts.
“Having two golf courses within such close proximity is not the best use of the land or the resources required to maintain a golf course,’’ the statement said.
Mr Hamish said the council was focusing on a simple approach.
“Our focus is on a ‘back to basics’ approach to ensure that our available resources are spent on council services that are important to the community, including essential services, critical works and infrastructure,’’ he said.
“We also need to ensure that those services are delivered in the most cost effective way possible.”
But six Labor councillors have slammed the privatisation proposals as a “shortsighted plan that lacks vision’’.
“The council should be focused on providing support to our communities with its diverse needs and challenges,’’ councillor Lisa Lake said.
“Instead, it is preoccupied with abandoning services it wrongly considers non-essential such as childcare, teaching children to swim and providing safe and secure housing for the elderly.’’
She said outsourcing childcare centres would lead to higher fees, lower wages and declining quality of childcare centres, which now serve many children from vulnerable and socially disadvantaged families.
She said despite accepting the financial difficulties caused by amalgamations and COVID-19, the council was determined to waste money on building a multi-million-dollar administration centre in Granville.
But Our Local Community councillor Paul Garrard defended some of the proposals. He said Cumberland was one of the few councils to be operating close to 20 childcare centres and four swimming pools.
“There’s not one council in Sydney that has four swimming pools,’’ he said.
“No swimming pool makes a profit. If you are going to run four swimming pools we have to figure out how to run it. I’m not hearing people whingeing how (the privatised) Auburn pool’s run.’’
Cr Garrard said despite higher fees imposed on privatised centres, government subsidies reduced prices for parents.
Liberal councillors were contacted for comment.
The 2016 council amalgamations stung Cumberland (formerly Holroyd) when it merged with Auburn and parts of Parramatta.
It lost 13,000 ratepayers to Parramatta Council from Newington, Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park but gained 41,000 residents from the less-affluent Woodville ward of the Parramatta local government area.