Plains Producer
$1.50
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
STAR OF THE NORTH
dream start
PICTURE: Lisa Redpath
FRAMED by the deep green of an emerging crop, Balaklava’s Murray Kirkland and his fellow farmers have reason to look pleased. Follow-up rain continued to buoy the hopes of local producers enjoying an excellent season, as crops soaked up the ample
moisture currently inherent in soils around the state. In the past week to Monday, Koolunga received 58mm, Snowtown 53, Blyth 34, Balaklava 31, Auburn 28 and Port Wakefield 26, with Owen and Mallala slightly less, around 22mm. Riverton received 19mm.
Mallala moves on wards District Council of Mallala will go back to community consultation with a new in-principle electoral model following a decision on Monday night to abolish wards altogether. It was an about-turn by councillors after a lengthy electoral review process saw them in May make an in-principle decision to continue with a ward structure for the district. This option had seen the council reducing the number of wards to three, with three councilors representing each ward and the names of Two Wells, Lewiston and Mallala/ Dublin proposed.
Bec O’Brien reports:
This decision was overturned at the meeting following a motion put forward by councillor Strudwicke. No division was called. As part of the electoral review process, council was earlier in the year given two options to consider. First option was to have no wards and nine councillors plus a mayor elected by the community; the alternative was three wards comprising three representatives for each ward and a mayor elected by the community. n Continued Page 4
And according to a recent survey, the timely falls have seen a “subdued” lift in the state’s rural confidence. The latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey reported about half of the state’s farmers (55 per cent) anticipated similar conditions to last year, while the
25 Slow down! New speed limits at emergency scenes – Page 2
number expecting conditions to worsen over the coming year had lessened – 26 per cent compared to 36 per cent in the previous quarter. n CONTINUED PAGE 4
n AG BUREAU’S 125 YEARS – PAGE 4
Wakefield rates debate RATE increases for properties in Wakefield Regional Council (WRC) could be capped at 15 per cent under a notice of motion to be voted on at tonight’s WRC meeting. While a 10.5 per cent rate increase has been proposed for the coming financial year, this figure is taken as an average, with some properties’ rates rising by less, and others by more than the 10.5 per cent increase. WRC currently offers rate rebates to keep rate increases below the 20 per cent figure.
Les Pearson reports: Central Ward councillor, Owen Chapman, lodged the motion under the belief rate increases of up to 20 per cent will be too high on ratepayers and proposed the rate rebate kick in at 15 per cent. “Such increases are usually unforseen and therefore not included in a business or household budget,” Cr Chapman wrote in support of his motion. n Continued Page 4
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