More federal money for local government

At the second meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government in Canberra last week the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, gave another $220 million to Australia's 565 local councils for libraries, community centres, sports grounds and other local infrastructure. There is another $25 million in a fund to drive reform in asset management and financial planning and encourage regional co-operation between councils in delivery of services.

That brings to $1.245 billion the amount of economic stimulus funds provided by Canberra to councils since November and comes on top of $200 million in interest-free infrastructure loans for NSW councils announced in the state budget.

"This is the most significant advancement in local government funding in almost a decade," said the president of the Australian Local Government Association, Geoff Lake. "We know that local government across the country faces a growing infrastructure funding deficit of more than $14.5 billion and that somewhere between 10 to 30 per cent of councils are facing bankruptcy unless there is urgent reform to local government funding."

Paying their way - corruptly

A couple who tried to bribe Warringah Council officers over a building inspection acted corruptly, the NSW corruption watchdog has found. The Director of Public Prosecutions has now been asked by the Independent Commission Against Corruption to decide whether the couple should be charged.

The case involves Jin Hua Chen and Yu Ling Sun, who allegedly sought to offer Warringah Council officials $600 in cash in relation to a building inspection in March for a butcher shop in Dee Why. ICAC heard that the couple had paid $1.5 million for a shop which they wanted to turn into an Asian supermarket and butchery. At a council inspection in March, when it became clear the building would need further work before being approved, they sought to bribe Council officials. The couple argued the extended delays in getting approvals was costing them money.

In subsequent ICAC hearings, both Mr Chen and Ms Sun admitted they were trying to speed up the process of getting council approval for work done at their shop, so they could begin trading sooner.

Water utilities caught up in National Broadbank Network

Water utilities along with energy and telecommunications companies could be forced to hand over confidential information to the Government under the first piece of legislation in the national broadband network process, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The information relates to their infastructure, which many utilities have been securing since the increased emphasis on terrorism in the last ten years. The bill is a reworking of the access rules by which companies bidding last year for the right to build the network were entitled to information from other telecommunications firms so they could compile their bid.

The information would need to be provided to "an entrusted public official", which could include a minister, secretary of department, Commonwealth officers or people acting as consultants to the Commonwealth. The Water Services Association said it would not object to the bill as long as the cost of providing information was not too great. The Energy Networks Association said the confidentiality of any information provided "will be key."

NSW Councils snub new planning panels

ALMOST half the councils in NSW have refused to nominate members to new Government planning panels that will be set up on 1 July, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The councils have in effect boycotted the five-member joint regional planning panels, a centrepiece of the State Government's new planning laws, by refusing to appoint two local representatives.

The regional panels will assess all developments of $10 million to $100 million, from supermarkets and unit blocks to factories and sporting complexes. There will be six regional panels across NSW, and council appointees will be called in to assess development applications from their areas.

But 49 of 109 eligible councils have either refused to make a nomination to a panel or have delayed doing so because of a lack of clear guidelines about how they will operate and a belief that they are undemocratic. A spokesman from the office of the NSW Minister for Planning, Kristina Keneally, said that if councils did not nominate two representatives they risked being left out of decision-making.

Cascading problems in business continuity

In planning disaster recovery and business continuity strategies, there's often an assumption that once responsibility has been passed to an external party such as a data centre, contingencies have been covered. However, the following story shows how external agencies can themselves be subject to interruption.

Emergency water repairs near Central Station may have led to a short outage at the Macquarie Data Centre in Sydney early on Saturday morning, affecting its hosting customers. A spokesman for the data centre said it lost water supply late the night before, affecting its air conditioner. It switched to secondary and tertiary backup cooling systems and auxiliary power, the spokesman said. Equipment in the managed services area was turned off after 7am Saturday AEST. "The managed hardware area was restored and operational by 9am," the spokesman said.

Indications are that a leaking nearby fire hydrant may have cut water services to buildings, although its timing is in dispute.

Councillor bullying?

Just a coincidence? Today's news includes two separate stories from different states with a common theme - bullying of Councillors. The WA Today report quotes one councillor providing a reference in defence of another, stating "My observation while being on Council is that Councillor Black has been a victim of institutional bullying". Adelaide Now reports that Burnside Council will hold a special meeting in response to a State Government inquiry sparked by claims of bullying and internal strife. Representatives of Local Government Minister Gail Gago interviewed key staff including the mayor and councillors last week. She said the council appeared "rife" with personality clashes that could limit "democratic" decision making.

A centre of excellence

The Australian government announced the creation of an $8 million Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government this week. The centre, which will promote best practice, innovation and professionalism in local government, is the first of its kind in Australia.

It will be based at the University of Technology, Sydney, as part of a consortium that includes, among other bodies, Charles Darwin University, the University of Canberra and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). CDU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Barney Glover said the University would provide the essential Northern Territory input to the required national reach of the Centre.

The Centre will contribute to national debate on current and emerging challenges facing local government, including the impacts of the global economic crisis, climate change and its consequences, management of local government infrastructure, and enhancing the capacity of local governments to serve their communities. Its courses and services will be available across urban, rural and remote Australia, using on-line delivery and physical presence. The Australian Government announced the funding during the second meeting of the Australian Council for Local Government at Parliament House on Wednesday.

Water sharing

With electricity we have a national grid. Essentially an electricity retailer can buy power from any generator, anywhere in Australia. Since water is stored and its collection is based on a catchment area, water retailing - even in Melbourne with its three retailers buying water from the same wholesaler - is a monopoly supply everywhere in the world. There is no "contestability" in water retailing, unlike electricity (and gas). However in a nation where some State boundaries are entirely arbitrary and towns on either side of the State boundary may draw on the same natural catchment, there are arguments for sharing water across State boundaries.

The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) reports the ABC says it wants authorities to consider allowing regional towns to share water across state boundaries during drought. Mayors agreed to the idea at the annual ALGA national conference in Canberra this week. Steve Jones, the Mayor of the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, put forward the motion and says it is time authorities realised water shortages do not end at state borders. "Because it doesn't matter what we do in life - we must have water," he said. "We can't overemphasise enough that we need to look at all possible alternatives to make water available to those who need it in this country."

Looking after pensioners

Even (or perhaps especially) in these hard times, local government and the water utilities are still looking after pensioners. There's a difference however - local government takes the hit direct to its bottom line, while water utilities generally can claim their rebates back from the State government. Water billing software and rates billing software is designed to calculate these discounts; those for water are often surrounded with complex rules about how the rebate is to be calculated.

Banana Shire Council's 2009/10 budget was announced by Mayor John Hooper yesterday. Pensioners in the shire will get additional help to pay their new rates bills. The pensioner subsidy will go up from $180 to $250 in recognition of the “ongoing costs that this section of our community faces,” he said. Mr Hooper said it had been a difficult budget to balance as the council, one of the smallest remaining in Queensland in terms of population and rates base, struggled with limited sources of revenue and a level of uncertainty because of reduced state subsidies.

Mr Hooper said one of the primary objectives of the budget was to make the council more sustainable in the medium to longer term. Announcing the council's operational deficit would be $4.5 million in the new budget, he said over the next five to 10 years it was essential the deficit was turned into a surplus. He said the authority had a 10-year plan to make its utility services self-funding and announced a long-term aim to fully fund depreciation.

Lettuce prices up?

Central Australian growers will be feeling the pinch of increased power and water prices at the start of the new financial year says ABC Rural. Northern Territorians will be paying the first instalment of a 25 per cent power and water price hike. Lettuce grower Mo McCosker says he'll have to pass the costs on. "It's just going to have to go to the customers, that's the unfortunate part about it," he says. "If they're going to bang the prices up, what else do we do? It's either that or we get out of the business altogether. If we can't cut our butt clear, you end up saying, what are you doing it for?"

More on the NT's software woes

The Northern Territory Minister for Local Government, Rob Knight, says his department will pick up some of the costs shires are facing because of a problematic new finance system. The Barkly Shire Council says it will abandon the system after it produced an inaccurate business plan for the year ahead.

The ABC quotes Mr Knight saying that the other shires have accepted the system, despite the problems and it is up to the Barkly Shire whether it rejects it. He says shires should still be able to use it to set their budgets but the Government will help ensure the system works properly.

"Consultants ... recommended that the Northern Territory Government should help with fixing up some areas within the system and we will do that - we will stump up those costs," Mr Knight said. "With respect to achieving budgets, the councils can do that now."

A smoother building approval process

The ABC reports that the Local Government sector has backed calls for improvements to Western Australia's building approval process. The Housing Industry Association has told the State Government's Red Tape Reduction Group that the application process is too complex. WA builders must obtain planning and building approvals through local government before starting construction.

The President of the WA Local Government Association, Bill Mitchell, says the process could be fast-tracked if council officers themselves did the initial approvals. Mr Mitchell says some builders are waiting several months for approvals. He says a template would make the approval process faster and more consistent. "There's a role for model planning-approval processes that everyone deals with the same approval process, on the same scale, and the same timeline," he said. "We would certainly be keen to look at those."

Perhaps state-wide permit billing software would help.

Water utility concessions

The Western Australian Council of Social Service (WACOSS) is calling on the State Government to do more to help people on low incomes pay their utility bills, the ABC reports. The council is releasing a report today that shows the cost of utilities in WA has risen by 24 per cent in the past five years and will climb to 35 per cent by 2013. The service's chief executive, Sue Ash, says the Government needs to invest more in programs that help people pay their utility bills if they are at risk of disconnection. What's true for WA applies around the Commonwealth.

Carbon: council good guys, ratepayer losers

Australian Local Government Association president Geoff Lake is reported in the Canberra Times to have said councils were in a unique position to affect climate change policy, being both close to their constituents and often the biggest employer in their community. They could influence climate change by reviewing the way they did their business, especially with water use, and engaging in carbon offsetting programs such as tree-planting. "I think looking back over the last 10 years, councils have probably been a leader amongst the three levels of government in raising the environmental consciousness of both the community and key government decision-makers,'' Mr Lake said.

And then the ABC reports that Australia's local government leaders say ratepayers will have to bear the cost of the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. More than 700 mayors, councillors and chief executives are attending the three-day National General Assembly of Local Government in Canberra. Up for debate is a discussion paper on climate change, which says at $20 a tonne the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will add $344 million to councils' operating costs. The paper says with up to 30 per cent of councils already facing severe financial challenges, they will have little choice but to pass on the full costs to local communities. The paper says there will also be the additional costs of disaster mitigation measures. The Australian Local Government Association says the cost burden from climate change will fall mainly on rural and regional communities.

Hmmm.

... followed by jobs for the boys

Adelaide Now reports that South Australian local government councillors are defying laws designed to cut back their numbers by voting to keep themselves in a job. South Australia's 675 councillors are in the process of reviewing if their council should have less representatives at next year's elections and only five councils so far plan for minor reductions. Those voting to keep the same number of councillors are able to do so because the cutbacks were not made compulsory in the Local Government Act, which asks they only "examine" reducing numbers.

Some councils are also acting in defiance of the wishes of the public, with Wattle Range Council voting last week for another period of community consultation – rejecting as "unmanageable" recommendations by eight out of 10 respondents and the council chief executive that numbers be cut from 11 to five. President of the Residents and Ratepayers Association Kevin Kaeding said councils should all abide by the wishes of those who made public submission during consultation.

The state's biggest council Onkaparinga has 20 members. Onkaparinga mayor Lorraine Rosenberg wanted to cut this number to 12 but councillors voted to retain the status quo. Ms Rosenberg now wants an independent review of the process in all councils. When the Local Government Act was passed in 1999, it stated after eight years all councils with more that 12 councillors must consider reducing the number of councillors and recommended the same for smaller councils.

Pay rises for the boys

The NSW Local Government Renumeration Tribunal, a government body which determines the level of salary payable to councillors, has recommended a pay increase of 2.5 per cent for councillors, considering it an appropriate figure due to current economic conditions. Narromine Shire councillors have adopted the larger pay rise keeping in step with rates increases which are pegged by the Government at 3.5 per cent. The full story is in the Narromine News.

Unsightly overhead cables

Those of us with long memories will recall the battles between local councils and the pay TV industry when thick cables started appearing in leafy suburban streets. Now some councils are concerned that they may be getting a re-run as part of the National Broadbank Network initiative of the Australian government. Not so, according to the Federal Minister, who dismissed concerns raised by the coalition that most of the national broadband network (NBN) cables will be hung overhead rather than buried in the ground as a way to reduce costs.

Opposition communications spokesman and Senator Nick Minchin yesterday warned that the current overhead cables which are unpleasant to look at will be rolled out across the country to provide a more cost-effective NBN. He warned that local and State planning rules would be bypassed. "Underground cables are the clear preference of councils and residents across the country, yet hundreds of kilometers of aerial cables are set to be rolled out under Labor's broadband plan, disregarding the wishes of residents and councils, " he said in a statement.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy raised the option of aerial cabling during question time. He said that the fiber optics will be replaced underground wherever possible and cost effective. "In most other cases aerial cabling might prove to be a faster and more cost effective method." But Senator Conroy has pointed out the fact that a decision has not been made about the ratio of overhead compared to underground cables as part of the NBN rollout.

Software troubles in the Territory

The ABC reports that the Local Government Association is calling on the Northern Territory Government to release a confidential report into a computerised business system used in super shires.

The system was introduced last year when local councils were amalgamated into super shires. It is used for such things as financial reports and budgeting. The association's Northern Territory president, Kerry Moir, says the new system was brought in without proper planning or training and super shires are now struggling to do their job.

Ms Moir says the Department of Local Government and Housing needs to openly accept the report and act on its findings. "A lot of the council operating needs are not being met. Probably the most worrying thing is that for many of them, they've been unable to get accurate financial statements which means that they don't know what they've got to spend on a variety of things."

Is this perhaps the same software to which the following press release dated 28 February 2008 refers? If not, which software is it?

"Technology One Limited has been awarded the contract to supply and install state of the art business systems across the eight shires. Local Government Minister Rob Knight today said the business systems were part of the job of getting on with fixing governance and service delivery problems in the bush."

Brisbane rates up

Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has delivered a $3.4 billion council budget, with the city's residents facing an average rate rise of about 6 per cent, the ABC reports. The budget contains record spending on capital works and measures to fight traffic congestion.

There is $230 million for transport including 125 new buses, two new City Cats and a rapid transit bus service linking Newstead and West End. Councillor Newman says the council will borrow $900 million, some of which will be banked for future projects. He says the borrowing is responsible.

"More than $190 million will be spent on environmental measures, including planting trees and buying land to save it from development," he said. Cr Newman described the rate increase as fair but concedes some people will find it tough to adsorb the extra cost.

A total of $164 million will be spent on upgrades to 11 of the city's main roads.

Cr Newman says the spending will create more than 14,000 new jobs.

State vs. Local government in NSW

NSW councils must begin to plan ahead for the future of their local communities to avoid being dictated to by the State, says the Local Government and Shires Associations. Cr Bruce Miller, President of the Shires Association, last week called on delegates at the 2009 Shires Conference to begin discussions about their future and make sure that they were the masters of their own destinies. “I don’t believe that wholesale amalgamations are the answer – there are many councils performing very well and they are extremely viable,” he said. “Sharing of staff and resources is also an option we need to explore. We don’t yet know what the future of Local Government will be, but we need to take this opportunity before us now to shape the future of our communities ourselves.”

President of the Local Government Association Cr Genia McCaffery said that the dialogue was equally important to metropolitan councils, given the State Government’s determination to eat away at local representation. “We have seen an erosion of planning powers that is fundamentally changing the way local councils can represent their communities,” she said. “This, along with years of cost shifting and rate pegging that mean our costs far outstrip our funding, has led us to this position where, as it currently stands, Local Government is not sustainable in the long term. We will not sit idly by and see our communities continue to deteriorate – we must steer Local Government back into a position where they have the strength to represent the communities that have elected them.”

Cr Miller said that while both Labor and Liberal have said they will not force amalgamations, Local Government has heard this before.

Disaster recovery options constrict

The Australian Financial Review reports that energy-efficient data centres, with their high start-up costs and long development lead times are feeling the squeeze. All levels of government who rely on such centres for their disaster recovery planning may find their options constrained as data centres find they have no capacity to take on additional customers.

Recycling? Or general revenue?

The Town of Kwinana is leading a rubbish revolt, urging other councils to reject the Western Australia state government’s 400 per cent increase in landfill levies, the West Australian reports. Mayor Carol Adams has written to every mayor and shire president in WA calling for a massive civil disobedience campaign to thwart the Government’s $40 million rubbish grab that is expected to contribute to a $100 rates increase for average households next year.

The WA Local Government Association is seeking urgent legal advice on changes to the levy that it believes could be illegal because the money is being directed into general revenue creating a tax rather than tied specifically to recycling measures. Documents released in Parliament this week showed the State made just two illegal dumping prosecutions in the last four years, making a mockery of claims that increased fines would stop the expected upsurge in illegal dumping when the new levy came in.

An IT vendor code of conduct?

The Australian Financial Review has reported that the Australian government is working on a code of conduct for IT vendors who wish to sell to the Federal government. Apparently too many public servants have been taking vendors' hyperbole at face value. The UK organisation Intellect is being held up as the model Australia should follow. All the more reason for the third tier of government to call in independent consultants (such as those listed) to assist with the software selection process. However blogger Brian Corrigan questions whether it mans anything at all. "I can't help being a little amused by the concept of designing a code of conduct for IT professionals that sell into government," he opines.

Will the Victorian government take planning away from some Councils?

The Age reports that Planning Minister Justin Madden is considering seizing control of sections of suburban Melbourne and Geelong to speed development, after a key piece of his planning legislation was defeated in Parliament.

Mr Madden would assume planning control of five activity centres in Camberwell, Coburg, Doncaster Hill, central Geelong and Preston, and the takeover would probably extend to all Melbourne's 26 "principal activity centres". Mr Madden said yesterday that becoming the responsible authority for those areas was "one of the options I will consider".

On Thursday, non-government parties voted down a plan to introduce development assessment committees (DACs) to control planning permit decisions in activity centres such as shopping strips. Decisions in those areas are now made by local councils. Many oppose the committee model because they believe it will strip communities of control of their neighbourhoods.

The committees were to comprise two local government representatives, two state government representatives and a chairperson. The Government hoped the committees would help resuscitate its Melbourne 2030 planning policy, which has not been applied fast enough to curb urban sprawl.

The Brimbank fallout

The Age reports that Local Government Minister Richard Wynne and his department are unwilling and incapable of properly monitoring the activities and probity of local councils, according to a former local government minister and former Melbourne lord mayor. A recent Ombudsman's report into the activities at the Brimbank council has also raised serious questions about the oversight of the local government sector.

But it was not only councillors, state MPs and electorate officers who came under attack in the Ombudsman's Brimbank report. The report also "identified concerns about the way in which Local Government Victoria discharged its statutory responsibility to investigate potential breaches of the Local Government Act in relation to Brimbank. In my view, Local Government Victoria's response to complaints about Brimbank did not adequately address the issues raised," Ombudsman George Brouwer found.

Local Government Victoria until recently had only six staff, whose responsibilities included investigating complaints against any of Victoria's 79 councils. Two full-time investigators have recently been added. Other people have suggested politics are preventing the proper oversight of local councils.

Mergers on the mind

On both sides of the Tasman local government mergers are a hot topic. In New Zealand the new national government is forcing through a merger of all of the councils in the Auckland region. In Australia, Bruce Miller, the recently re-elected president of the Shires Association, told the Sydney Morning Herald it was a case of merge or perish for many local councils that are being squeezed by increasing financial pressure.

In Australia this may be a voluntary consolidation. “Roads, water, sewerage, parks, you name it - all areas you expect councils to be responsible for are becoming more and more difficult to maintain to a level that’s acceptable,” Mr Miller said. “There’s been a huge cost shift to local councils, running at about $400 million per annum on top of the $600 million shortfall on infrastructure spending, because of cost shifting for libraries, community and child-care centres and aquatic centres that traditionally were not our responsibility.”

In New Zealand there is no choice.

Rates up in NSW?

RATEPAYERS across NSW face rate hikes of up to 13.5 per cent - almost four times what the law allows - so cash-strapped councils can fix roads, dump garbage and build footpaths. A Daily Telegraph investigation has found more than 30 councils across NSW are planning to beg Local Government Minister Barbara Perry to let them raise rates past the pegged 3.5 per cent.

Mayors say budgets have reached crunch point as they struggle to cope with cost-shifting by state and federal governments. Camden City Council, on Sydney's south western fringe, is planning one of the biggest rate rises in the state - 12.25 per cent.

Already, 29 NSW councils have applied for a special rate variation through the Department of Local Government before going to Ms Perry for a determination. Shires Association of NSW president Bruce Miller called for the "obsolete" rate pegging scheme to be scrapped.

Fortnightly rubbish collection

One way to save costs, so it seems, is to collect household rubbish less frequently. The ABC reports that the South Australian State Opposition claims councils could breach environmental health regulations by taking part in a trial of fortnightly rubbish collection. Opposition MP Stephen Wade says the Government should not allow the trial, which is being managed by Zero Waste. A SA Government representative says rubbish collection is a matter for local government. Wendy Campana from the Local Government Association says every precaution is being taken in the fortnightly collection trial.

Local government's head in the Cloud?

Cloud computing, along with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), is a popular buzzword in IT these days. But before you commit hosting your favorite rates billing program in India, consider the risk of the delivery mechanism that supports SaaS and Cloud computing - the Internet. In a recent article, the head of Nemertes Research suggested the Internet sky really is falling.

"For service providers, the Internet is about to become a lot more expensive to deploy and operate; for users, the Internet is about to become a lot less reliable and a lot more expensive (and balkanized). It gets worse: There's no clear fix. Next-generation Internet projects have come and gone over the years, with little real success. Several projects are underway, but they're nowhere near complete -- and there's no consensus that any of them will actually work."

Having your planning cake

New South Wales Government changes to local planning have been criticised as a power grab. Byron Shire Mayor Jan Barham says the state's new planning panels undermine the role of local government. The State Government will install six Joint Regional Planning Panels across metropolitan and country NSW to assess developments of significance.

Councillor Barham says it is not only the councils that will lose out in the process. "I think it will cause a lot of angst for local residents who are denied their right to have a say in their local future," he said. "So I see the panels as being yet another attempt by the State Government to take away the planning approval or control from local communities".

The Local Government Association is advising councils to boycott the nominations until the State Government addresses the anomalies.

Byron Shire was in the news recently for, it was alleged, NOT listening to local residents' right to have a say in their local future. On June 2 the Sydney Morning Herald reported on a Byron Shire home that is disappearing before owner John Barham's eyes. During wild seas in late May 2009, more than 3500 cubic metres was swept from his front lawn, which faces Belongil Beach, a sand strip near Byron Bay lined with multimillion-dollar properties.

Severe erosion threatens as many as 16 homes and could force an opening between the sea and the Belongil estuary. This would open the way for catastrophic flooding in Byron Bay town,with damages running to tens of millions of dollars.

A temporary restraining wall was built earlier this decade by Byron Shire. But the Greens-dominated council has brought an injunction against Mr Vaughan to stop him upgrading the wall in front of his house to match the standards of those protecting his neighbours.

"On the Gold Coast, they are already sorting out these problems from the storms," Mr Vaughan said. "But here, council is taking injunctions stopping me from doing approved work."

Victorian planning changes

Stripping local communities of a say in planning decisions has denied residents the "right to participate in public life", according to a former president of Liberty Victoria. Brian Walters, SC, now president of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria, will today address a protest on the steps of Parliament involving groups opposed to the Government's recent planning policies.

Mr Walters said the Government's planning changes — which include taking over planning control for some social housing and independent school building projects with no public notification or review — was an attack on the democratic rights of residents. "The right to participate in public life is foundational to a functioning democracy," he said.

Under scrutiny

When councils apply for exemptions they may receive a closer scrutiny than they expected. A Sydney council has given new meaning to the term "late library fees", slugging new residents for the cost of land it bought nearly a century ago for a public library. New landowners are also charged retrospective levies to pay for a 1928 scout hall in Longueville and a bowling club in Lane Cove built in 1930.

The details came to light in a review of councils that wanted to exceed a new $20,000 per lot cap on levies. Of 11 councils included in the first stage of the review, Lane Cove Council was the only one blocked from charging over the threshold, receiving a ticking off for its practices from the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally.

"This is an inappropriate use of infrastructure contributions and may stifle development in the area," a media release issued by Ms Keneally's office said. Nearly 90 per cent of the contribution levied in Lane Cove was based on recouping the cost of providing public amenities and services dating back 90 years. This equated to nearly $6000 for each new resident.

The coming skills shortage

This recession will end, and when it does demographics are going to start working in favor of the labor force, as the number of younger workers starting to climb the ladder dwindles and councils face what could be big gaps in the talent pool. That should spell opportunity for older workers, if councils start planning now for training and retention. The lack of workers generally means that local government is going to have to work a lot, lot smarter. Tools such as workflow, distributed via self-service channels on the Internet, will become increasingly necessary if councils are not to be overwhelmed.

Sydney water to be more expensive

On the heels of the South Australian increases, and for the same reasons (the cost of a desalination plant), it is reported that Sydney consumers are set to pay more for their water too - - increasing a typical customer's bill to almost $1000 a year.

The price increases will help cover the cost of long-service leave for government staffers and building the Kurnell desalination plant. The rises come despite water supplies approaching record levels and Sydney Water making over $1.5 million in penalties from people breaching water restrictions.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) on Friday approved price increases sought by the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) for supplying water to Sydney Water. The increases will add around $7 to the average bill this year and totalling $16 in 2011/12.

The rises follow price increases approved last June, which added $126 to the average bill last year. This year, residents will pay an extra $55, followed by $41 more next year and another $23 in the final year. Up to 40 percent of the total of the increases were approved to help pay for the ongoing construction work at the controversial Kurnell desalination plant. On July 1, Sydney Water will also factor in for inflation, estimated to be around 2.5 per cent.

Civica out?

Lachlan and Forbes Shire Councils, in the west of NSW, this week issued identical tenders for "the provision of computer systems and services as part of a total replacement and upgrade of the current Civica 2000Plus Corporate Information System". Does that mean they're throwing Civica out, or can Civica be a contender via an upgrade? In addition to the functionality Civica offers, they're also looking for "new functionally that [Council] does not currently have application software for i.e. Asset Management System, Human Resources System, Customer Request Management System and E-commerce".

This activity seems to be "flavour of the month". Blacktown City Council only recently advertised for consultants to help them prepare an RFI for the replacement of their legacy whole-of-government software application. Consultants such as those listed in our side panel may find themselves quite busy.

Document Management

For those who thought that TRIM and Dataworks were the last EDMS systems around in Australia, Greater Dandenong City Council has reminded us all that there is an alternative in Objective.

SA water charges up

Someone had to pay for South Australia's de-salination plant, as water supply and quality from the River Murray continues to fall, and it turns out to be the user - current users making a contribution to the future, so it seems. In the 2009 South Australian State Budget, announced on June 4, record $2.1 billion will be provided over four years for a range of initiatives to secure South Australia's water supplies.

Adelaide's desalination plant, stormwater harvesting, treated wastewater recycling and infrastructure upgrades all received money from the 2009 Budget. Work to protect and improve the health of the River Murray will also receive almost $260 million.

More than $830 million will be spent in 2009-10 on the construction of the desalination plant to ensure the first water produced from the plant is supplied in December 2010. Capacity will reach 50 gigalitres a year by mid-2011 and up to 100 gigalitres a year by the end of 2012.

The State Government is committed to using renewable energy to power the plant and the contract to supply that energy will be finalised soon. Stormwater reuse will receive $52.3 million in the next year and $29 million will be available over two years for rainwater harvesting and water efficiency rebates.

A further $165 million will be used in the next year to continue wastewater reuse upgrades on the Glenelg-to-Adelaide-Parklands recycled water project and at Christies Beach, Aldinga and Glenelg wastewater treatment plants. Funding for the River Murray will be channelled through SA's contribution to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to continue dredging the Murray Mouth, salt interception schemes and emergency drought responses.

Digging ditches

Tough new penalties including five-year prison terms await contractors in NSW who interrupt the electricity and gas supply. Legislation for the stiff measures follows a series of power failures in Sydney's central business district in March and April. It includes fines of up to $22,000 for individuals and $440,000 for corporations who fail to take adequate measures to avoid cutting into power cables or gas lines when digging.

The legislation, which passed the upper house this week, puts the onus on the contractor, not the company, to ensure cables and pipelines are not cut. The city's main electricity supplier, EnergyAustralia, has admitted it may be months before new equipment is installed to reduce the possibility of further large power failures.

In response, the Government has introduced a "dial before you dig" telephone service for contractors to check on cables in the area they plan to excavate. They face five years' jail if they cut power or gas supplies.

However, you would think that such digging activities should in many cases require a local government permit. Wouldn't the logical response be to have an integrated permitting process involving both local government and all agencies that have infrastructure that may be impacted - electricity, gas, water and telecommunications?