THE region’s mayors are divided on moves by the State Opposition to “end council waste and rorts”, with Labor indicating it will not back rate capping and instead introduce its own proposed legislation.
The flagged changes include mandatory rates impact notices for any expenditure larger than $1m, a more open annual business plan and budget deliberation process, bans on “extravagant” perks and a crackdown on interstate and overseas travel.
Grant District Mayor Richard Sage recognised the need for improvement in some areas, but said he believed local government was operating transparently.
“I am just wondering what they think the elected members are for,” he said.
“Governments on both sides should be working closer with councils, not trying to manage them.
“We seem to be bombarded by requests to open our books.
“If you want something from the State Government, you have to go to freedom of information requests and even then it could take years to get a response.”
Mount Gambier Mayor Andrew Lee lambasted the State Opposition’s focus on transparency and accountability, focusing attention on the former Labor administration’s imposition of the solid waste levy, which he claimed to be missing funds.
“The last Labor Government collected $112m through the waste levy and now because of China’s national sword policy, council’s have to put up money for recyclables,” he said.
“When the environment minister was down, I asked him to distribute that money out to the councils.
“He said there was no money in the account because it had already been spent by Labor.
“Now the Labor Government is talking about transparency?
“If they are asking for more transparency, I do not think they can get better than any of the councils in South Australia.”
Mr Lee did welcome bipartisan opposition to rate capping, labelling Local Government Minister Stephan Knoll as “disconnected” with councils.
Wattle Range Mayor Peter Gandolfi welcomed the changes, saying he did not believe the proposals would be a burden.
“There is nothing wrong with transparency,” he said.
“Wattle Range has been a leader when it comes to publishing expenditure details each month.
“Council releases all creditor payments in the council agenda, which is available publicly, including on the council website.”
Mr Gandolfi said informing ratepayers of increases of rates when including major capital or operational works in annual business plans and budgets should be part of normal processes.
