The association believes that the crisis confronted by council over the management of its financial affairs was not the making of council’s current finance staff but rather their predecessors.
Having said that, the association also believes that the accountability for council’s financial failings clearly rests on council’s general manager & the elected council, with the exception of Crs Nadin & Bain who have worked tirelessly to rectify them.
A litany of embarrassing financial irregularities have highlighted the problems at council over the past few years including the deliberate adoption & publication of false financial statements & reports, the mismanagement of council’s receivables asset & cash reserves, the recording of a record deficit in the General Fund in 2019 & its failure to rein-in its expenditure, coupled with the bungling of council’s financial planning processes through the use of flawed software.
In spite of the above, the majority of councillors resisted pressure to investigate council’s financial management, notwithstanding that same majority of councillors acknowledged that they did not understand council’s finances, until finally, on August 26th, 2020, Crs Nadin & Bain succeeded in having council adopt a resolution to conduct a four year baseline audit review of its 2016–2020 financial accounts.
With the departure of Cr McBain from the Mayoralty & the subsequent resignation of her successor, Cr Tapscott, Cr Russell Fitzpatrick was elected as Mayor on September 16th, 2020.
Cr Fitzpatrick immediately reassured residents & ratepayers that his number one priority is to address & resolve concerns around council’s financial standing, including completing the audit of council’s finances over the four year period of the current council.
Notwithstanding Cr Fitzpatrick’s assurances, it has been almost two months since council resolved to pursue a baseline audit & residents & ratepayers could be forgiven for thinking that the August 26th resolution was a figment of their imagination, with no draft terms of reference having been published & no announcement having been made as to who will undertake the review, when it will commence & when it will be completed.
In the meantime, more than six months has passed since council published its audited 2018-2019 Financial Statement highlighting its record $14.1M General Fund deficit & a $8.9M deficit for council overall & not a word of explanation has been forthcoming as to the reasons for those appalling results.
With less than a year to go before the next Council Elections, council is fast running-out of time to re-establish its financial credibility with residents & ratepayers.
The association believes that if it fails to do so, few of the existing councillors can expect to be returned to office in 2021.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au