EXPRESS The
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Locally owned and proudly independent
Tough call for
TRC By Katherine Kokkonen
Local rider Kurt Shephard, seen here riding Fright Night at the 2013 APRA Rodeo finals, will be competing at the Eureka Creek Rodeo this weekend.
Eureka! It’s rodeo time! Hundreds are expected to flock to Eureka Creek this weekend for their inaugural rodeo where the bulls and broncs will be kicking up the dirt. TURN TO SPORT FOR THE FULL STORY.
GETTING back in the black has led Tablelands Regional Council down a tough path of cost cutting measures. Mayor Rosa Lee Long said council had seen revenues fall below expenditures and the measures were a way of securing the council’s longterm financial viability. At last week’s council meeting, TRC endorsed a plan to return to surplus by the 2016-17 Budget. Some of the tough measures include not filling vacant positions, offering voluntary redundancies and decreases in services. “We have chosen a very tough path, but it is the only one that provides the kind of result that gives an on-going solution,” Cr Lee Long said. “Robbing our cash reserves would have been a short term solution that would have left ratepayers with a financially unsustainable council not too many years down the track. “Instead we are taking the difficult and painful path that avoids that trap. The community may well see service levels fall. But it is necessary pain as a result of taking the
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responsible decisions.” TRC staff will be offered voluntary redundancy packages, but should further reductions in staff numbers be required additional redundancies will be carried out. “This may mean reductions to some Council services or possibly the removal of some services entirely,” Acting CEO Matthew Hyde said. “This will be undertaken in a considered manner to ensure a balance between availability of services and the cost to the ratepayer.” Part of the review of operations will be the combination of service centres in Malanda and Herberton with existing library services, effective from June, 30. Malanda and Herberton service centres deal with six to nine customer-facing requests daily, while more than 60% of rates payments were being made online or via Australia Post, according to Mr Hyde. “Both communities will receive a reduced number of hours of customer service. The hours of operations reflect the number of counter enquiries at each facility,” Mr Hyde said. “No buildings, depots or other CONTINUED P5
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