Paul Weston: The surprise changes at the Gold Coast City Council which will short-change ratepayers

Your city councillor, if a good one, knows everything about your suburb. But that could all change very soon — unless something drastic happens.

The Gold Coast City Council being sworn in at the Evandale Council Chambers. Photo: Jerad Williams

OUTCOMES of a review into divisional boundaries within the Gold Coast City Council could be a disaster for councillors.

Worse still, ratepayers could be short-changed on service.

Think about it. In building a divisional budget, your councillor is acutely aware which sporting club needs lights around its playing fields. The councillor knows where to fund the worst road black spots.

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Hard-working councillors live and breathe the division. They know every blade of grass.

But the map in their office is about change with the Electoral Commission of Queensland responding to the city’s growth.

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At this point it is not known whether your councillor can have input.

Mayor Tom Tate suggests they have a conflict of interest and wants council CEO Dale Dickson to make a submission to the ECQ.

What might happen? Too many eligible voters are in Divisions 1 and 3 in the city’s far north.

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Deputy Mayor and northern-based councillor Donna Gates has the load of the north’s problems on her shoulders. Picture: Jerad Williams.

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates might see Division 1 split in two. Which side of the M1 will she represent?

Unless Cameron Caldwell in Division 3 wants to depart the Broadwater or run for mayor, he and Kristyn Boulton will fight it out in Division 4. Bigger fireworks than New Year’s Eve at Paradise Point.

Veteran councillor Daphne McDonald might lose her beloved Palm Beach in the caerve-up and head west to Mudgeeraba, which is the comfortable leafy home of hinterland councillor Glenn Tozer.

Peter Young could lose contact with his strong community base at Nerang, which needs loving and singular representation rather than bits of it being shared between councillors.

Nerang-based councillor Peter Young debating in the chamber. Picture: Richard Gosling.

As Mr Dickson writes up his submission, what is a possible solution that will benefit ratepayers? Rather than tinker with all of the boundaries, why not create a new division?

“One way is to redistribute the amount of voters among all divisions. Or do you create another new division in the north?” a council insider said.

“There hasn’t been an increase in the number of councillors in 20 years. The best outcome for the community is to have a councillor focused on them.

“It’s better for a councillor to retain their existing community. They have knowledge of them.”

Treasury projected population figures show the city will grow by 14,670 people annually for the next 25 years, much faster than expected. Coomera’s population will increase by almost 62,000 from 13,807 in 2016 to 75,606 by 2041.

Councillor Glenn Tozer out and about with his young sons Emerson and John.

Ratepayers at first might baulk at paying for a 15th councillor and their office. But why not plan ahead now in the area of the city that desperately needs the most planning.

“In terms of the massive amount of growth in the future, if we just massage the boundaries now, all we will be doing is doing that again in four years,” a council source said.

Cr Gates could do with a colleague at the planning committee table to explain to others on the Glitter Strip what life is like in the fast growing north.

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Read the comments on her Division 1 survey. Big families are being squeezed into 400 sqm homes and parked cars are taking up the street space. The word being trotted out is “ghetto”.

“Why do we pay rates in Ormeau if you can’t fix the roads,” a resident posted. Another wrote that she was “scared for my life driving on roads around Pimpama”.

The Gold Coast needs a 15th councillor, right there. Residents need to make sure they vote for the candidate who knows every blade of grass.