nitpicking again - Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association

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nitpicking again …

While council’s general manager would have residents & ratepayers believe that council is perpetually down to its last dollar in attempting to meet its obligations to the community, the facts demonstrate that nothing could be further from the truth.

An examination of council’s audited financial statements over the past six years to 2018/2019 clearly reveals the fact that council consistently enjoyed substantial over budget levels of Income in four of those years.

While council budgeted for an aggregate increase in all Income over that period of 22.2% or an average of 4.4% annually, its Income actually increased by 42.7% over the period or an average of 8.5% annually; almost double the rate of increase anticipated by the Budget.

Council’s record in accurately forecasting & delivering its Income Budget over time is exemplary & if its ability to manage its expenses was of the same order, it would seem that council would have little to complain about. Sadly, for ratepayers, such is not the case.

Needless to say, council has enjoyed $17M in unbudgeted Income over the past five years; an average of $3.4M per year.

When it comes to Expenses, it seems council is one of those organisations that certainly knows how to plan & achieve its Income objectives, but has absolutely zero capability when it comes to managing expenditure within approved Budget levels.

While the general manager tried to wave-away council’s abysmal performance in 2018-2019 by blaming the Tathra/Reedy Swamp & Yankees Gap bushfires, she provided no evidence to substantiate that claim, while the numbers clearly suggest otherwise.

The sad facts are, that while council budgeted for an aggregate 12.7% increase in its Expenses over the same five year period, an average of 2.5% annually, its aggregate increase amounted to 28.9% over the period, or 5.8% annually, significantly higher than anticipated in the Budget.

And again, contrary to the suggestion of the general manager, council’s failure to manage its Expenses within Budget is evident in every year bar one of the five, with the aggregate over-Budget expenditure over the period amounting to more than $24.4M, or $4.9M annually.

Council appears to be an organisation that does well when it comes to consistently finding the necessary funds to execute its plans, notwithstanding its claims to the contrary, but it appears totally unable to manage the expenditure required by those plans.

That council has managed to waste every dollar of the unbudgeted $17M Income it has enjoyed over the past five years is testament to its chronic management deficiencies, while the inability of the elected council to recognise & correct that management deficiency is reason enough to justify its dismissal.

John Richardson

Secretary/Treasurer

Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association

Tel: 0264945669

Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au

Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au