According to ABC Radio South East News:
“The Bega Valley Shire Council says concerns over its financial deficit have been resolved after an $85M surplus was found.”
The association believes that statement is entirely inaccurate & may have seriously misled residents & ratepayers of the Bega Valley as to council’s financial standing.
The association also believes that if the ABC was provided with that information by a representative of council, that representative should be publicly identified & disciplined.
If the information was not provided by a representative of council, then the association believes that the ABC should withdraw the report & apologise for potentially misleading the community.
Notwithstanding the ABC Radio report, the association believes that an ominous cloud hangs over council’s financial affairs & will continue to do so until the promised baseline audit review of its 2016–2020 Financial Accounts is completed.
As previously stated, the association believes that there is a litany of embarrassing reasons for residents & ratepayers to be concerned over council’s financial affairs in recent years, including the deliberate adoption & publication of false financial statements & reports, the mismanagement of council’s receivables asset & cash reserves, a record $14.1M deficit in the General Fund in 2019 & its failure to rein-in its expenditure, coupled with the continuous bungling of council’s financial planning processes through the use of flawed software.
With reference to the statement made by Cr Bain that council has $85M in cash reserves across all council funds, the point needs to be made that the real issue of concern is not the amount of those reserves but the inadequate way they have been administered by council management in the past & the amount of those reserves that is available to meet council’s daily business liquidity requirements now & in the future.
The association believes that the level of council’s unrestricted cash reserves is perilously low & that council’s apparent refusal to contain its expenditure can only continue to undermine its financial position & potentially hobble its ability to meet the ongoing cash required to underwrite its operations.
The association notes that Cr Bain did not identify the level of council’s unrestricted cash reserves held at June 30th, 2020 & that unlike last year, council has chosen not to release this year’s unaudited Financial Statement.
The association continues to be concerned that on the one hand council has promised a more open, transparent & improved approach to the management of its financial affairs, whilst on the other, it continues to maintain that everything is in order when clearly it is not.
The association is concerned that the reported claim by council could result in the promised four year baseline audit review of its 2016–2020 financial accounts being cancelled & again calls-on council to confirm that the audit will proceed, to publish its terms of reference, confirm who will be undertaking the review, when it will commence, when it will be completed & that the report will be made public.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au