Council on notice after budget deficit – Golden Plains Shire council meeting

AT Tuesday’s Golden Plains Shire council meeting the fourth quarter financial report, including a deficit of more than five million dollars, was noted by councillors.

This deficit resulted from flood damage costs, reduced sales of municipal owned land at Lomandra Drive at Teesdale, land rehabilitation reserve movement, and asset impairments and write offs.

Lynnere Gray, director of corporate services, said the unexpected overspend can partly be put down to accounting standards, which result in some figures being reported annually, and money which will be received later for flood recovery measures.

In the future Shire officers will be using a new financial management system and a range of other systems which will create a more flexible financial reporting.

Cr Owen Sharley introduced an alternative motion where councillors not only noted the report but were also asked to consider its financial implications on the long-term financial plan and future budgets.

“It sort of puts us on notice as councillors because we’ve publicly identified that and let’s ask a deep level of questions,” he said.

“I don’t think as a group we spend enough time asking the right kind of questions or we sort of skate over things, so I think this puts us and the officers on a little bit of notice.”

At the end of quarter three, a $2 million surplus was predicted for the year, which means there has been a downturn of $7.2 million.

“I must confess I too was surprised about the figures for this quarter,” said Cr Gavin Gamble. “It’s pretty unfortunate.”

Ultimately all councillors voted in favour of Cr Sharkey’s amendment.

Pothole petition received

A petition by the Advance Meredith Association was received by councillors and will be referred to the Golden Plains Shire CEO Eric Braslis for response.

The petition contained 293 signatures and was based around the condition of roads in Meredith.

Phil Josipovic, director of infrastructure and environment said that in a period between July to September of this year, there were 190 customer requests related to roads in the area and 170 of these had been solved.

Cr Sharkey and Cr Helena Kirby called for more clarity on the issue, saying that considering 170 of the requests had been solved, it appears that the Golden Plains Shire is doing its job, however there must be a deeper issue.

“We would like a report brought back from the CEO regarding what the issues are here and how many issues have been dealt with,” said Cr Kirby.

“Then as a council group we can look at what the bigger problems are because if there’s 190 problems that have come to our attention and 170 that have been dealt with, as councillor Sharkey said, what is the 20 and why is this still coming to council?”

While under governance rules, an amendment could not be made to ask the CEO to formally bring a report to councillors but Mr Braslis said he will take this feedback on board.

Master plan approved

All councillors voted to endorse the Smythesdale Gardens and Brewery Dam Reserve Master Plan.

The document was developed in conjunction with a company named Insight Leisure Planning who worked with various stakeholders and undertook community engagement.

At Smythesdale Gardens, the plan includes developing a tree replacement strategy, creating better drainage, upgrading internal roads and adding more signage.

The Brewery Dam will have a drainage assessment to address flooding, signage will be upgraded, and more safety notices and barriers will be installed.

Cr Gamble said it is exciting to see the plan go ahead after an extensive consultation process.

“Both of these gardens are managed by the Smythesdale Progress Association so congratulations to them as they’ve had a large hand in this plan,” he said.

“The purpose of a master plan such as this is to ensure the best possible chance of advocacy and securing external funding.”

Election policy to go ahead

The Golden Plains Shire Election Period Policy was endorsed by councillors following a period where the plan was open for community feedback.

Yet no community feedback received on the policy, which contained minor changes with the aim of different governance during municipal election caretaker periods.

“There was a draft version put out for public consultation and no submissions were received,” said Cr Clayton Whitfield.

“Any changes that were made from the previous version are there to align with the Local Government Act 2020.”