NOT interested in politics? Think again!
At a local government level in particular, the closest level of authority to the people, interest has never been higher.
And it’s not surprising with local government responsible for everything from pets and animal management, to footpath maintenance, building and planning approvals, rubbish collection, kindergarten and family services, road maintenance, streets and drainage, community and business support, not to mention their own financial management and a whole lot more.
Local ratepayers and residents might find that most of their time is taken up with the general business of life; working, running the kids around, tidying up around the house, looking after older relatives, meeting friends, keeping fit and paying the bills.
But they are keeping a weather eye on the performance of their local council, and the decisions they make as evidenced by the number of people who engaged in an online conversation last week on the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times’ Facebook page about the $7.7 million Inverloch to Wonthaggi shared pathway.
In fact, for a non-video post, it attracted a phenomenal 221,345 views, 1009 interactions, 618 likes, 47 shares and 334 comments, varying widely from outright criticism of the shire for wasting money, to glowing endorsement of its tracks and trails development policy, together with well-reasoned suggestions on how to do it better and encouragement for using local contractors where possible.
It was a positive, if lively discussion and good to see the shire’s communications’ team weighing in too and providing some useful feedback about the progress of works.
But the fact is, the community takes a keen, if at times, a passive interest in how the shire is managing its affairs and how it is delivering for the people and while we only get a chance once every four years to pass ultimate judgement, in the ballot box, we want the opportunity to have our say on all council’s policy settings, especially community priorities for works and services.
But one area that remains a mystery to us all is the state of the shire’s finances and the percentage of revenue that is being converted into benefits for the community.
The latest quarterly statement by the Bass Coast Shire Council reveals we are headed for an underlying deficit of $11.5 million, which is $1.5 million worse than budgeted. We’re told not to worry, that the shire is paying off $2.1 million more of its borrowings than anticipated and that our ability to pay existing debts remains within the Victorian Auditor General’s low risk category.
But the underlying debt position remains firmly in the high-risk category, and it needs to be clearly explained why this is OK.
Are we spending more and more on staff wages and less and less on community-facing, community-endorsed capital works? Can savings be made in shire operations, starting with a full review of the cost of operations at Berninneit where two paying customers emerged last week from a screening of the worthy Dwayne Johnson film ‘The Smashing Machine’? Are we doing everything right there?
The community is watching (or in this case, not watching)!
