Gympie councillors have their say on controversial 2021/22 budget

See what the Mayor and each divisional councillor had to say on the budget, which has been met with criticism from residents – including former Mayor Mick Curran.

Gympie Regional Councillors (clockwise from left) Bruce Devereaux, Warren Polley, Town Hall, Mayor Glen Hartwig, Bob Fredman, Jess Milne, Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon, Dan Stewart, Shane Waldock and Dolly Jensen.

Gympie regional councillors have offered their perspectives on the newly adopted 2021/22 budget, which has drawn significant criticism from residents since its release last week.

News ratepayers would be slugged with an average rate rise of 3.2 per cent came as what Mayor Glen Hartwig called a continuation of the council’s promise to go “back to basics”, with the $157.6 million budget including a $40.07 million capital works program with an expectation to scrape into surplus by $60,000 at the end of the financial year.

The council also announced the early bird discount for paying rates on time has been slashed from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, but the payment now applies to entire rates bill including special levies (which were previously exempt).

Mr Hartwig defended the discount cut, saying the old system was a PR exercise where ratepayers were charged millions of dollars more than was needed.

Here’s what every councillor has to say about the budget:

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig

Mayor Glen Hartwig

“If all the work we need deliver costs $100 million, and you want a discount of 10 per cent and we give it to you, we would only collect $90 million.

““That would mean that we would have $100 million in expenses and only collected $90 million to pay for it.

“You can see the problem.

“So what does council do to make you feel like you are getting a discount? We add $10 million to the expenses, send out rates notices for $110 million and give you back the $10 million we’ve already taken from you.

“And for those who can’t pay their rates on time, they are penalised by 10 per cent.

“Ten per cent on top of an amount they already can’t afford.

“The bottom line is we charged you what we were going to give you back. That was never a discount.”

READ MORE OF MR HARTWIG’S COMMENTS HERE

Division 1 Councillor Jess Milne

Division 1 councillor Jess Milne

“While the budget can be summarised as a total figure or percentage impact it’s what Council does with those funds that’s important. I don’t like paying more than I have to but if the investment is one that will save in the long run then I can see its value now.

“I welcome the information and operational technology upgrades that will allow for better data entry and retrieval and public interface which will improve communication within the Council itself and with the community. I envision this investment will be a real driving force of future efficiency and service delivery that will hopefully stretch funding further.

“I am very disappointed that the environment levy has been absorbed into general rates. This long running levy was introduced with community support to fund environmental initiatives that were not in Council’s ordinary operations such as actions from the Environment Strategy. A good policy would have ensured that this levy was allocated appropriately as the environment underpins everything so is worth investing in.”

Division 2 Councillor Dolly Jensen

Division 2 councillor Dolly Jensen

“We all knew that we were never going to recover in the first year, however, moving forward and working hard with our dedicated staff, line by line, workshop after workshop, I believe that we have delivered a respectable budget.

“If we can set our sights to focus on the essentials we will get back to basics sooner than we anticipated. Steady growth, healthy growth, is a dial that we have to continually adjust so that we can build a stronger organisation and deliver more to our residents.

“I am confident that each year we will improve our figures but for now we’re getting back to basics.

“I am proud of the new transparency hub on the council website that shows the ratepayer where their money is being utilised.

“It’s been a year of culture change and challenges but I believe we have the right leadership within our Mayor, councillors, CEO and executive team to deliver.

“The ship is no longer sinking and we are turning it around, even in the Mary River. I’m excited to see what the next year brings.”

Division 3 Councillor Shane Waldock

Division 3 councillor Shane Waldock

“We simply worked out the priorities of work required and requested, and balanced it with funds available. Obviously the services and infrastructure with a past end of life took the top spot. These include essential services like water and wastewater.

“Once the total of capital and operational budgets were agreed upon, we turned our view on the rates and charges. We had talks with state departments and economists checking over where we sat benchmarking our council with others of similarities.

“The rates were heavily scrutinised in the larger corporate commercial sector to ease the burden on our local residents. The levies were frowned upon, so our view was to absorb these levies into the rates and accept them responsibly as part of business operations.

“In relation to the discount, and from a business perspective, if I was to run my business in the fuel industry where a large part of my customers could get a 10 per cent discount, my profit margin to pay overheads would be completely wiped.

“10 per cent is too unstable to budget for business and requires a more predictable platform.

“You will notice in this budget we haven’t planned any grand colosseums to win the hearts of the people, rather we’ve concentrated on exposing and accepting our neglected services and setting a positive proactive direction therefore reducing the liability on council and the ratepayer.”

Division 4 Councillor Bruce Devereaux

First meeting of the new elected council – Bruce Devereaux

“We looked at a whole heap of scenarios.

“Going from the 10 to the 5 was for the battlers, the residents who never get to have the discount at all because they couldn’t manage to get the money paid on time.

“For me, it’s giving them a chance to catch up from being a bit behind, to have a bit of a reprieve.

“That wasn’t brought to us as a reason or a recommendation, but it’s certainly what I thought of when I looked at it.

“There was a lot to this budget to try and make it fairer, easier and less complex for people. For example rolling the levies in to the overall rates.

“A lot of the stuff (levies) was for is stuff council has to do anyway, when they were first bought in I’m sure there was very good reasoning for it, but I couldn’t see any reason that it was worth keeping them separate.”

Division 5 Councillor Dan Stewart

Councillor Dan Stewart. Photo Renee Albrecht/Gympie Times

“The budget is the result of over six months of meetings. In response to councillor requests staff have worked on multiple scenarios in regards to expenditure and rates. We were facing an operational deficit which would have meant running down of our reserves further, and maybe additional borrowing.

“I am happy that we have budgeted an operational surplus. This means we will have more flexibility in our future budgets, both in regard to expenditure and rates.

“Minimum general rates plus levy has been held constant, which means the majority of our ratepayers will have only a small rate rise.

“I look forward to hearing directly from constituents on what they see as the future direction of Council and to hear of what Council should spend on within our income.”

Deputy Mayor and Division 6 Councillor Hilary Smerdon

Special Council Meeting – Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon

“This budget is the result of many, many hours of staff and councillor time. People may forget but the Council is a big business and needs to be run this way. We have millions in infrastructure to renew and maintain, a large workforce to pay and provide necessary services to our residents. As in any budget Council calculates what it needs to cover these areas and produces a budget to raise the necessary revenue.

“In the last few years council has been running operational deficits and can't afford to continue this practice so we have kept rate increases to a minimum but have tried to work towards a minor surplus. Why, to have some funds there for unplanned expenditure such as floods or some other natural disaster. The days of spending like a ‘kid in a lolly shop’ are gone and we are now reducing costs wherever possible and cutting back on any big capital items for the near future.

“It is now all about maintenance and renewal of necessary infrastructure and providing the necessary services to our community.”

Division 7 Councillor Warren Polley

First meeting of the new elected council – Warren Polley

“While only one version of the budget was voted on, what ratepayers didn’t see was that in the months prior we had been workshopping over 20 versions. We believe this version (the one voted for) was better and fairer than the others.

“With capital works – one of things I have learnt in the past 14 months and seen in other councils is that you can give any budget you like, but the rubber hits the road in the ability to deliver on the budget.

“Mostly they don’t deliver on time and there is a large carry-over to the next year which in turn results in a carry-over to the year after that.

“While you can’t account for extraneous events like the weather and Covid lockdowns, this budget has been planned on the ability to deliver what we said we will do. I believe we will and that means better value for the ratepayers' dollar.”

Division 8 Councillor Bob Fredman

Special Council Meeting – Bob Fredman

“As I said at the meeting, I believe this is the budget we had to have. We have had to address the demons of the past, and have done this by right sizing our bureaucracy, by a back to basics approach to services, and by a very modest increase in income.

“By now living within our means, we have paved the way to long term stability.

“Please note that for this budget we received some very clear advice from external parties, that we didn’t have much choice in going forward. And I couldn’t do much about the revaluations which have hurt in the Mary Valley, but that reflects the reality that it is a highly desirable area for people to move to.

“I dislike the downsides as much as anyone. I look ahead however to a stronger future built on the platform we made in this budget.”

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What are your thoughts on the budget, and what the councillors have to say? Let us know in the comments below or send them to [e-mail].

Originally published as Gympie councillors have their say on controversial 2021/22 budget