'Were they aware of the detail?'
In recent articles and comments on the Eurobodalla Shire Council's recent decision to pass the proposed budgets for 2020/21 including the full allowable 2.6 per cent increase to the general rate and other non-restricted increases to some fees and charges, much has been said about the propositions of council budgeting to make sizeable surpluses (aka "profits") and having dividends being passed from the sewer and water funds into the general fund.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These propositions may seem unreasonable at any time, but are particularly so in this extremely difficult year following drought, fire and COVID.
A quick look at the budgets and numbers involved showed the extent of these surpluses and the potential for the allowable 50 per cent dividends from the water and sewer funds back into the general fund - see the table pictured showing figures extracted from pages 76 to 79 of the budget.
Ratepayers should make themselves aware of the magnitude of these details, and more in the full budget documents they come from, approved by councillors at their meeting on June 23 and then ask those councillors were they aware of the detail and why the budget was passed by five of them without any alteration despite some attempts for fairness towards ratepayers?
Jeff de Jager, Coila
Unafraid to be named
It was disappointing to see in the last 'Letters' section (Narooma News, June 24) a political and biased letter, with many inconsistencies, simply signed 'Name and address supplied'.
I would hope that the local papers are not going to go the way of the gutter social media pages and the even more execrable 'online newsheets' which publish almost all comments under a pseudonym, defamatory or not.
For many years newspapers required a name and suburb for a letter to be published. In particular a letter attacking a political candidate of any colour should have the name and suburb supplied.
A letter to the Merimbula news on May 6 is a case in point. It was short, to the point and the name and address WAS supplied: "Congratulations to our Mayor Kristy McBain on receiving the endorsement of Anthony Albanese as the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro. They make a perfect fit. Ms McBain has been the leader of our profligate and inept council with Mr Albanese the leader of the profligate and equally inept ALP. T. Mellington, Mirador."
Philip Creagh, Narooma
Editor's note: We prefer letters to be published with names and suburbs. Provided a name, address and contact number are provided for verification, we will publish without those details. During election campaigns, members of political parties are asked to declare their memberships. We are advised that was not relevant in this case.
Wild dog baiting
The state government's Planned Action for Feral Animal Control aims to to take advantage of bushfire devastation to get rid of goats, foxes, wild dogs, cats, pigs,rabbits that have survived the fires but are still regarded by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment as posing a risk to farmers' livestock.
The plan claims to protect native animals from predation, but is it? Controversy continues over the status of the dingo (native or introduced?) and its importance to the natural environment remains unrecognized. It is deemed OK for dingoes to be cruelly killed and their killers rewarded. Over a million 1080 poison baits are to be employed state-wide in NSW in this war on the land. The very real possibility of harm being caused to the creatures the government claims to be protecting such as quolls, dingoes, birds and lizards, and the likelihood of soil and water-ways being contaminated are overlooked or minimised.