The president of the Local Government Association (LGA) of NSW, Genia McCaffery, says while the Rudd Government's $220 million stimulus package for councils is welcome, there are systemic funding issues which must be addressed to reverse this trend.
"If you're actually going to fix the issue of long-term under-resourcing of councils, what's really needed is real reform in how councils are funded," she said. "Combine that with rate pegging, the only state in Australia that has rate pegging, where every year councils are getting less revenue to meet rising costs, then it is absolutely not surprising that some councils are struggling to make ends meet and even the well resourced councils are still not adequately resourced."
Meanwhile, there is still no ruling from the State Government on applications by councils to lift rates above the rate pegging limit. Rate increases for the new financial year starting today are capped at 3.5 per cent. More than 25 councils in the state have made applications for special rate increases. They include Lithgow and Wellington. A spokeswoman for the Minister for Local Government says a determination will be made in the next couple of weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment