It’s the size of the rise that has unsettled many.

Council wants to hike rates by 20 per cent. They are proposing 10 cent for the first year, followed by a further 10 per cent increase  over seven years.

Ratepayers vented their fury at Saturday’s meeting, with many arguing it was a fait accompli and councillors had turned deaf ears to other ways of addressing the backlog.

The district is not alone in facing steep rates increases to pay for services that have fallen into disrepair over many years.

That’s because the  Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has pegged rates too low for many years.

To an extent, Council needs to be applauded for taking action now and not dithering, as has been the case in previous years.

But a number of decisions made in the past year by Council have added to its financial woes and it is this which has caused such ire among the community.

For instance, a bid to cut costs over the tender of an engineering plan for Dumaresq Dam actually ended costing ratepayers $30,000 more.

Then there’s the latest delay in Council’s landfill project, for which it has already borrowed $14 million and on which it is paying interest.

Ratepayers are also worried the mayor Laurie Bishop’s bid to sack general manager Shane Burns could set finances back at least $100,000 should Mr Burns’s contract be paid out.

This new group of councillors was elected on a ticket to cut costs and be financially accountable. Ratepayers’ patience is wearing thin over these questionable decisions; it seems they can’t wait to decide councillors’ fate at the ballot box.

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The Armidale Express

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Armidale

NSW, 2350

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