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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
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Drop in capital works spending By Ryan Groube
C
apital works spending in the Mareeba Shire (MSC) is set drop by as much as $16 million a year post-de-amalgamation. The man overseeing the de-amalgamation process toured the Tableland last week, hosting a series of public meetings to update residents on the progress of the split. Transfer manager Rod Ferguson said five-year financial forecasts submitted by the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) during the formative stages of the de-amalgamation process were “exceptionally high”. In the forecasts submitted to Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC), $111 million had been allocated for capital works in the MSC area,
including $28 million to upgrade the antiquated Mareeba Wastewater Treatment Plant. Mr Ferguson said the TRC allocating between $20 and $25 million a year for capital works had played a large part in QTC rating the financial viability of a new MSC as “very weak” – a classification he disagrees with. “There is no reason [that] the Mareeba Shire can’t be a viable local rural authority,” he said. “The reason the QTC said the Mareeba Shire would run out of money by 2017 is because of all that capital spending in the report. “High levels of capital spending does two things. It takes cash away and it creates assets which depreciate. In both cases you are taking cash away from the [council’s] bottom line. “A council the size of Mareeba would typically
spend between $6 and $8 million a year on a capital works program.” A healthy crowd of more than 60 at the Mareeba International Club on September 17 said they were delighted to hear that the council was going to be financially viable. Mr Ferguson agreed but attached the proviso that the MSC would only be viable with “good financial management” and that “there were tough decisions coming up”. “Local governments generally struggle. The biggest problem is revenue which is collected through an antiquated system from 100 years ago called rates,” he said. TRC Mayor Rosa Lee Long said the financial forecasts submitted to the Boundaries Commissioner were reflective of the money the amalgamated council would have spent in the MSC over
the next five years. “Tablelands Regional Council stands behind the submission it made to the Boundaries Commissioner during his consideration of the de-amalgamation proposal,” she said. “Future spending decisions will be a matter for the new Mareeba Shire Council from 1 January 2014.” Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said the forecasts provided to the QTC are based on the Tableland Regional Council’s planned capital works (both new and replacement) for the (former) Mareeba Shire area. “As I have consistently said, any council can choose to spend more or less on infrastructure depending on how much it wants to charge ratepayers and the standard of service it wants to maintain,” Mr Crisafulli said.
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