Rescuing the museum may cost many tens of millions of dollars. The new sewage plant will cost $29m before distributing the treated wastewater. We also need public debt to be seriously reduced before interest rates rise again. So, how can council hold rates to the cost of living?
My advice is stop unnecessary spending, recycle assets and downscale structures. The airport upgrade can wait. Don't install lights at the Otonga roundabout; Raj [Kumar] listened to the locals and got it right in my view. The Terax CCO can be scrapped. CCOs must be stopped from dishing out corporate welfare.
Recycling council assets is no less overdue. All land sales should be tagged for debt retirement. With the library settled into a new building, convert the old library into top-end corporate offices and sell them.
Downscaling council structures, especially the PR functions, can generate major savings.
In my view, portfolios and current committees should be rationalised into a small number of functional committees of council (i.e. Works, Public Services, Regulations and Finance), chaired by councillors and serviced by expert officials. These cheap structures could integrate transparent policy making with publicly accountable implementation and boost the efficiency of core service delivery. And hold rates rises to the cost of living.
