Gold Coast City Council: Expenses report reveals what councillors are costing ratepayers
More than $1.3m of ratepayer money has been spent on office renovations for some councillors, which have been criticised as “Block-style makeovers”
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More than $1.3m of ratepayer money has been spent on office renovations for some councillors, which have been criticised as “Block-style makeovers”
Some Gold Coast councillors in the lead-up to next year’s March poll are furious that colleagues who are spruiking about cutting costs have left community centres and are renting new commercial office space.
A council source said: “It’s Block-style renovations. It’s largesse. There was nothing wrong with these fit-for-purpose offices. This is a $1.3 million spend which cannot be justified, as a time when cost of living pressures are bearing down on everybody.”
The costings have not been made public, or outlined in reports or debated at meetings.
But Bulletin questioning of Gold Coast City Council reveal these ratepayer costs:
* $299,213 on renovation for the heritage-listed Southport Town Hall where Cr Brooke Patterson is based.
* $297,000 for a new office at Firth Park after Cr Glenn Tozer was forced to leave rented accommodation in the Mudgeeraba shopping precinct.
* $256,679 on Cr Cameron Caldwell’s office after the property owner required renovation.
* $201,794 on a new office at Coolangatta Library after Cr Gail O’Neill left rented premises.
* $132,174 on new office for Cr Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden at Parkwood after leaving a community centre.
* $69,775 creating an office for new Division One Cr Mark Hammel at Ormeau.
* $54,754 on an office renovation in the City Chambers for Cr Darren Taylor.
A City spokesperson confirmed four new councillor offices were built and three existing councillor offices renovated during this council term.
“The total cost of these fit-outs and renovations was $1,311,389,” the spokesperson said.
“The works undertaken varied dependent on each location but the types of works included remodelling, painting, new flooring, kitchenettes, furnishings and installation of security measures.
“City had not undertaken significant improvements to any councillor offices for several years prior to this. Two divisional offices are leased from private owners at a total annual cost of approximately $114,000.”
Senior long-serving councillors have privately questioned the spending on divisional offices for Cr Bayldon-Lumsden, Cr Darren Taylor and Cr Brooke Patterson.
“Cr Bayldon-Lumsden left an office at the Labrador community centre which was only recently renovated,” a council source said.
“There was nothing wrong with Councillor Darren Taylor’s office. He has two and half times the space of the Deputy Mayor who has an office right behind him. Dawn Crichlow’s office was a hovel, but it is massive what she (Councillor Brooke Patterson) has done there.”
Cr Bayldon-Lumsden said the move of the councillor offices from the community centre was long overdue as the hub reached capacity, and there were safety concerns for staffers.
“The office relocation made four spaces available for community groups at low cost. These have included a support service for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and a disability advocacy service,” he said.
Cr Patterson said the budget for her office makeover was allocated before she was elected, and she had no influence or involvement over the decision for the works or funding.
“The office and customer service centre of this heritage building had not had its decor touched since the 1980s and what was done then, was not at all in line with today’s practices for respectfully maintaining a heritage building,” she said.
Cr Mark Hammel said no councillor office space was available in Division One after divisional boundary changes at the 2020 election.
He said he chose to utilise a small office space within the Ormeau Community Centre, despite this space being about half that of the other councillor’s offices.
Cr Gail O’Neill said it was a better financial option for a councillor to be accommodated in a council facility like the Coolangatta library than a privately-leased premise.
“The lease expired and it was my preference to relocate to a council facility that had previously accommodated a council customer service office.” she said.
Cr Tozer said the commercial councillor office tenancy in Swan Lane was up for renewal in 2021 and maintenance issues there represented some risks to office staff.
He estimates the rent saving to the ratepayer across ten years will be half a million dollars.
Cr Taylor said the Deputy Mayor’s Bundall office was a “satellite office”.
He had increased his office space to allow for confidential meetings.
“I am always seeking value-for-money for ratepayers. An internal fit-out of the existing office was far better value than relocating to external commercial premises or even other council facilities,” he said.
The Bulletin is waiting for a response from Cr Caldwell
Revealed: How much councillors cost you – and why it’s gone up
Gold Coast councillors have cost ratepayers more than $714,151 in expenses during the past financial year, a new report reveals.
The council’s annual report shines a light on the spending of city leaders during the 2021-22 financial year and shows councillor expensive have more than doubled from $268,713 the previous year.
Councillors received nearly half a million dollars in a motor vehicle allowance, a dramatic increase from just $114,526 the previous year.
Nerang representative Peter Young was the sole city leader to not take up the allowance, instead driving a car from the council’s fleet.
Mr Young said he chose to forgo taking the allowance for an unexpected reason – he enjoys driving the Volvo he was given.
“It’s a really nice car and I’m happy to keep it,” he said.
Mayor Tom Tate is the top spender, notching up more than $132,401 in expenses during that time, up from $44,778 the previous financial year.
A major chunk of these expenses was $31,527 he spent on travel to the UK “for business and government meetings in advance of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games’ Business and Tourism Program and a business meeting in Paris with Paris 2024 Olympics Committee”.
Mr Tate defended his expenses bills, particularly those relating to travel, arguing he had to re-establish the city’s overseas links again post-Covid.
“Mayoral office expenditure on travel underscores how important it is that post Covid, I am working to promote our city and our 71,000 small businesses to key markets,” he said.
“Further, prior to my election as Mayor, annual travel costs were spread between a number of councillors and committee chairs.
“That approach was inconsistent and did not provide best value for money for ratepayers.
“It is far more advantageous for the Mayor to be the official representative for international missions and that is why the overall annual travel expenditure is attributed to the Office of Mayor.”
Mr Tate said his travel had led to strong economic returns for the city.
“Our city only ever targets key markets where these mayoral trade missions have resulted in multimillion-dollar returns for the Coast,” he said.
“That is value for money and creates employment for many locals as well as downstream suppliers.”
The listed expenses are up from $122,000 just two years ago and come on top of city leaders salaries, which exceeded $2.7M.
Expenses listed in the report include printing and stationery, mobile phone bills, travel and conferences and “reasonable business expenses” which is defined as including anything from parking fees, work meals, raffle tickets at community functions and consumable office supplies such as newspapers, lollies and milk.
The councillors charged more than $63,337 in reasonable business expenses up from $57,240 the previous year and councillors charged ratepayers $110,665 in communications expenses, up from $91,620 the pervious year.
This covers phone bills and letters to the public.
Mobile phone bills are no longer recorded separately in the report, though in 2019-2020 they were $17,000, on top of $47,040 on printing, stationery and postage
Councillors also spent $19,000 on facilities, having spent no money on this the previous year.
This includes office supplies.
The highest-spending divisional councillor was Surfers Paradise’s Darren Taylor whose expenses exceeded $53,491, nearly double the previous year.
Mr Taylor also had the highest spend on communications, with $14,221.
Mr Young, who has represented Nerang for 19 of the past 23 years, was the city’s most frugal councillor, recording just $9271 in expenses.
Other low spenders include Bob La Castra and Pauline Young.
Mr Young said he was pleased to have spent so little during the financial year and was surprised to find he was the most frugal councillor.
“I try to keep it lean and mean and only spend when I really have to,” he said.
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