The recent advice by the Gympie Regional Council of a 9.3 per cent increase in rates is an absolute disgrace.
I don’t know which world our councillors are living in, but it is certainly not the real world as experienced by the ratepayers of the Gympie Regional Council Electorate.
With the national CPI at 3.8 per cent and falling how can our Council justify a 9.3 per cent rate hike?
It is all very well for them to attempt to justify such an outrageous rip-off without any signs of belt-tightening within their multitudes of departments but they are on incomes of $80,000 plus per annum plus either cars or travel expenses for just 12 meetings a year plus committee meetings, that is if they bother to actually attend.
Our council used to have a contingency reserve in excess of $83,000,000 until the (previous) council squandered these carefully harboured reserves on their pet projects.
So, when there is a need to upgrade infrastructure the funds earlier, and more cautious councils in the past had judiciously saved for such eventualities, there is now no money in the bank to pay for these so-called “unexpected expenses”.
I would love Councillor Curran to publicly reveal, and then justify, just how much of our money he (spent) on the Rattler … together with a swimming pool complex that is already not fit for purpose.
The list goes on.
We are living in an age of mass homelessness and what do we get?
A 9.3 per cent rate hike!
This will see that rents have to be increased by property owners just to cover their costs at a time when these rises just can’t be borne by the tenants due to all the other cost of living pressures they are facing.
This Gympie Regional Council is not fit for purpose.
They should either revisit their budget and cut their cloth to fit their income or resign immediately and allow more fiscally experienced people to take over.
I just wish I had the technical expertise to start a “Cancel Gympie Council” website!
– Tony Jakeman
Veteran
[Abridged]
