Employee costs high
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
IN his letter "Hitting back at my critics” (Narooma News 20/5/2015) Clr Burnside addressed a broadside to his "increasing collection of critics”.
Dismissing a "completely spurious” comment by another resident concerning Council's high number of staff, clr Burnside asserted "We compare more than favourably to all our peers within the group four of Councils…”.
In its recent determination concerning Eurobodalla Shire Council, the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Authority [IPART] observed: - "The council has high staff numbers compared to the similar councils and the state average…. The council’s ratio of population to total FTE is 80, very low compared to 126 for the Group 4 average. This indicates an opportunity to find efficiencies and increase savings. It intends to employ another two project managers for the next three years if the special variation is approved. In the general fund, employee costs are 39 per cent of the total ordinary expenditure, slightly higher than the group average of 37.1 per cent”.
IPART’s determination is accompanied by a graph that illustrates ESC’s annual full time equivalent staffing cost is about $6 million above the Group 4 average and about $7.5 million above the state average. When consultant / contractor costs are added, ESC appears to be about $4.5 million above both the Group 4 and State averages.
So Council chooses to allocate at least $4.5 million per year more to its payroll rather than to local infrastructure, road maintenance, unfinished pathways, community facilities, et cetera. The cumulative effect over the past several years might explain why the shire appears run-down, why residents are constantly told there are no funds for worthwhile projects and why many residents are calling on councillors to ensure their interests are better managed.
Don Burns
Canberra
Apples and oranges
As part of my job as a Councillor, last year I commissioned a benchmarking report to measure our council against our peers to assess our comparative performance.
Historically, critics of council have looked at our total reported number of staff and compared that raw figure against neighbours and peers to find us wanting.
Because no one council uses the same methodology, I sought to find the true picture and take out the 'comparing apples and oranges effect'.
The report is available on the website. The Eurobodalla Council outlays 31.7 per cent of its expenditure on staff costs, below the average and below 70 per cent of the state's 152 councils.
The recently released IPART findings are presently being selectively quoted by long-time council critics.
IPART qualifies its assessment by concluding that ..."there are difficulties comparing Councils using this data because activities differ widely in scope and they may be defined and measured differently between Councils".
What's that they say about “lies, damned lies and statistics"?
Clr Neil Burnside
Narooma
Estuary dwellers excluded
AT their information sessions last week, the Eurobodalla Shire Council (ESC) dropped a “bombshell”. Estuary dwellers are excluded from the Eurobodalla Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
I have been asked to explain the implications of this decision in simple language.
Firstly, you must understand that the ESC, like many other coastal councils, introduced a sea level rise (SLR) policy in 2010. Most councils added an extra sea level allowance of 90 centimetres to their planning levels to cover the then projected sea level rise to the year 2100. Instead, our council adopted a plan based on “investigation zones”.
In the Eurobodalla, every property, or part thereof, within 100 metres of a high tide mark and every property under 5 metres AHD, was categorised “at risk” from sea level rise. At 5 metres AHD, the Narooma Flat is about three and a half metres under water.
Note: To understand Australian Height Datum levels just add 937mm to your normal tide readings.
The reason the ESC adopted this excessively punitive plan is unknown. But the ESC decided not to tell the affected property owners. As one prominent councillor said “let’s not spook the herd”.
People buying or selling property within the “investigation zones” soon found out that there was a sea level rise warning on one of the council certificates. This notation did spook the buyers.
Property values started to drop as word spread about the related planning restrictions, and the need for property owners to employ their own coastal engineers to determine whether the property was really at risk.
Our council refused to change its policy and told the people that this was only an “interim” policy. The investigation areas would be narrowed down when the real “at risk” properties were identified in the preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan.
This message was included in Council’s revised Interim Coastal Hazard Adaptation Code as follows:
“This code will serve as an interim measure until the full scope of risks and management options associated with coastal hazards have been identified through the preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan”.
Even the NSW Minister for the Environment told us that our problems would be solved when the CZMP was completed.
Council has recently reduced the investigation zone to 50 metres inland and 4 metres AHD, but this still puts the Narooma Flat two and a half metres under water. Far too many unaffected properties are included in the unrealistic danger zone.
So, why should estuary dwellers be concerned about the decision to remove them from the CZMP?
Well, you should be concerned that your property will now remain in an investigation zone, whether it is genuinely sea level rise affected or not. Bear in mind that it is five years since the first interim sea level rise policy was introduced.
In that time, Council has done nothing to identify the unaffected properties within its investigation zones.
You should also be concerned that unless it is included in the CZMP, Council has no obligation to identify the real coastal hazards affecting your property, or to develop sensible solutions to mitigate or solve those problems.
Further delays in getting rid of the policy, based on investigation zones, will do nothing to help affected property owners, or the recovery of our real estate market.
An all-inclusive CZMP is essential.
In conclusion, while I support the need for an all-inclusive CZMP, I do not agree with the way the current coastal zone management plan is being prepared.
The beach and headland CZMP is being driven by specialist environmental consultants, advised by a very green advisory panel, headed by Greens councillor Gabi Harding.
I am concerned that that the affected property owners could be subjected to a plan that focuses only on the natural environment.
Ian Hitchcock
Dalmeny
Executive Member
NSW Coastal Alliance
Mayor's say… Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care
This week on Friday, the world celebrates World Environment Day with a theme of sustainable consumption and production and the slogan, “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care”.
I took some time to read up about the day and found that it was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 on the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began.
It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme, and celebrated every year on June 5 to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet Earth.
Every year, our council aims to raise awareness locally about what we can do and this year we are involved in two key events in Batemans Bay that I encourage you to visit if you can.
The first is a workshop for businesses interested in investing in solar. The free Demystifying Solar for Business workshop explains how your business can benefit from solar and is presented by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage and Council.
You can learn from local case studies, and finance and industry experts. This will be held on Friday, June 5 from 8am to 11am at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club and there are more details on council’s website.
The Batemans Bay Village Centre will hold their annual environmental expo all day on Friday and council will be represented and holding a plant swap where you can bring in your weeds and receive some free native plants in return such as a variety of groundcover, grass, and shrub species that naturally belong in Eurobodalla.
There are many environmental weeds that you may want to be rid of from your garden so that they don’t invade nearby bushland and compete with native species and negatively impact our local biodiversity.
The natural environment section of Council's website www.esc.nsw.gov.au has a list and photos of environmental weeds in the Eurobodalla.
We will also be on hand to provide information and some advice about weeds, and how you can improve the biodiversity on your property.
You can learn more about water efficiency and waste education, and how to save water at home and in your garden. And we will have some free giveaways to get you started too!
The South Coast Health and Sustainability Alliance will also be at the expo with information about a program to support low income households to install solar power.
You will be able to register your interest with them or find out if you’re eligible. Eurobodalla Shire Council supported this group’s successful initiative to seek $50,000 of funding to complete this feasibility study.
Please let me know if there are any issues that Council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215.
Clr Lindsay Brown
Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire
Justice for sexual-abuse victims?
Recent increases to New South Wales non parole period and new life sentences for people who sexually abuse children are necessary and welcome.
The new NSW Attorney General Gabriel Upton says she recognises the damage caused to children by child sexual abuse.
Also that sentences for people who criminally violate children are necessary for children’s safety and to reflect community standards.
It is positive that Ms Upton understands the ‘lifelong devastation’ caused by child sexual abuse.
Community Legal Centres NSW and the Australian Lawyers Alliance have both congratulated the Baird Government for their decision to reverse retrospectivity applied to the new victim’s compensation scheme in 2013.
According to the NSW Justice Homepage “the Government's changes have worked well for the majority of victims but there is a group whose expectations under the former scheme were not realised.”
It is misleading to frame the changes around “a group whose expectations under the former scheme were not realised.”
The O’Farrell government was wrong to brutally cut the Victims Compensation scheme to find ‘savings’, particularly given former Premier Barry O’Farrell’s $300 million donation to his donor, the Australian Hotels Association for poker machine ‘tax relief’.
Australian Lawyers Alliance National President Andrew Stone says “victims of crime should not have to pay for the inefficiency of the NSW government.”
Ms Upton says she ‘will be guided by principles of care and compassion’. Hopefully principles of care and compassion extend to the implementation of recommendations of the Women’s Legal Services and Australian Lawyers Alliance including - cap present and future payments under the old scheme, ensure that victims of domestic violence have accessibility to the new scheme, remove the need for victims to report to a government authority for eligibility of compensation and, for the government to review cases instead of victims having to reapply.
Maureen Searson
Batemans Bay