0
0
It must be the NSW Government – NOT the Central Coast community – that pays for the failed amalgamation of Gosford and Wyong Councils, according to Labor’s Central Coast Local Government Committee (the Coast’s peak body on matters of local government).
“Around $1 billion in funding has been ripped from the Central Coast by the NSW Government in the past three years,” said Local Government Committee President and former Gosford City Councillor, Mrs Vicki Scott. “The NSW Government must stop lying to the people of the Central Coast about who is to blame for its broken promises.
“The Central Coast community was told our former Councils were unfit for the future but we were never shown the evidence. We were never given the vote on whether we wanted our democratically-elected councils sacked and replaced with a regional council that has now proven to be too big for the future,” Mrs Scott said.
“We were never told the Central Coast Council had over $300 million in debt when it was created in 2016,” she said. “The NSW Government promised our community Central Coast Council would have more funding opportunities and has done everything possible to break that promise ever since.
“Funding promised by the NSW Government but never delivered has included $400 million from the sale of Snowy Hydro. IPART’s water and sewer determination took another $45 million away from the region and amalgamation has cost the community around $150 million. Cost shifting from state to the new Council has cost another $100 to $150 million and we have missed out on about $175 million in grants when compared to other councils.
“The NSW Government-appointed administrator has committed our community to commercial borrowings of $150 million over 15 years and agreed to conditions that will result in a massive infrastructure backlog.
“Our opposition to a 15 per cent rate rise has been ignored and we’ve been given selective information about its impact. For example, the minimum rate in Wyong in 2020-21 is $300. The proposed Special Rate Variation will see it more than DOUBLE to $655 in 2027-28.
“The community’s assets are being sold off, including an environmental corridor in Doyalson and the Gosford Council Chamber but the public has only been shown one ‘tranche’ out of multiple lists of up to 60 properties.
“Well over 20,000 people signed an e-petition to have a public inquiry into the causes of Central Coast Council’s financial problems but our calls won’t even be debated in parliament until May.
“A September referendum to reduce the number of elected councillors from 15 to 9 would result in the Central Coast having the lowest per capita level of local government representation in NSW if not the nation. We must be given a vote on whether we want Central Coast Council de-amalgamated.
“Central Coast Council is not the only NSW Government amalgamation to face problems. Most of the councils now asking for special rate variations were amalgamated in 2016. Armidale’s elected representatives have been suspended and reinstated and now Wingecarribee Shire Council is facing suspension.
“The NSW Minister for Local Government, Shelly Hancock, must expunge the $200 million that was unlawfully spent by Central Coast Council staff from restricted funds. She must give our community a vote on de-amalgamation in September. NSW Government Whip and Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, must allow the debate about our council’s financial affairs to take place before 29 April.
“The NSW Government has wrecked our council but continues plans to rapidly increase the Coast’s population and fast-track over-development. People live on the Central Coast for its beauty, affordable low density and access to waterways and bushland. We do not deserve to be turned into the Berejiklian Government’s disenfranchised, under-funded, over-developed slum and Hancock and Crouch must not be allowed to cover up the truth about Central Coast Council’s failings.”
