The process of developing and adopting the Council Budget was long and complicated. Over the 18 separate, long and intense Workshops, Councillors had the opportunity to vote (recorded) on every aspect of the Budget. I voted against a General Rate increase on Residential Properties, I voted against a differential rate for Non-Owner Occupied (Investment) Properties and I did not support the way in which we apply the Pensioner Rebate. I believe that Pensioners are among the most financially vulnerable in our community and I believe just giving them the same (dollar) amount as last year will ultimately erode that benefit. In my opinion, it needs to be applied as a percentage (as done by Brisbane City Council) so that it keeps pace with any increases. Division 4 did extremely well in yesterdays budget with plenty of Capital Works and Renewals planned and I believe the on going operational works by Council are of a very high standard. When you drive back into the Redlands from Brisbane or Logan you can see and feel the difference.:) We also work hard to provide a very high standard of Customer Service and response times are continually improving. As pointed out in my Budget comment, in my opinion, the best opportunity to reduce our expenditure is to review the way we procure, cost and deliver our infrastructure, right from our smallest project ( such as concrete path) up to our major projects and to enable the Community to get involved in assisting with that process. The community are over big Motherhood statements and promises and I can understand their frustration with Politicians that are out of touch with real community need. Cost of Living is a major issue in our City. We talk about austerity, but I think it is a time for Innovation and Collaboration and for Political and Community will to start over riding the Bureaucratic processes that nurture and promote an economic environment of continual increases to Government costs and expenditure which ultimately has to funded by us all..
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 22:47:03 +0000
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