Lithgow City Council is protesting a suggested increase in local government election costs as part of an ongoing program of cost-shifting from the state government.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mayor Cr Ray Thompson said the recommendation from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to pass on a 72 per cent increase ($76,000) in election costs for 2020 was "simply unaffordable".
It has submitted a response to IPART's recommendation, asking that the increased cost to Councils of the 2020 elections be no more than the cumulative rate peg increase from 2016 which reflects Council's revenue raising constraints.
"At the same time as Councils being expected to bear more costs, the NSW Government has implemented its Fit for the Future reforms," Cr Thompson said.
"Councils are expected to be fiscally responsible and to place a focus on managing-renewing their assets.
"To achieve these goals, Councils have been working hard to improve productivity, save costs and generate revenue to manage the impact of these reforms on services and programs.
"In Lithgow Council's case, proposed services and programs were reduced for the 2019-20 year to deliver a "balanced operating result (before capital)" budget as required by the Office of Local Government.
"With the increasing cost and budgetary pressures on Councils, IPART's statement in the draft report that the impact on ratepayers will be relatively modest can be considered to be ignorant of the facts.
"It is certainly correct that the financial impact to ratepayers of an increase in election costs will be minimised by the rate peg. However, as is the case with other extraordinary cost increases and cost shifting, the impact on ratepayers is inevitably a reduction in the necessary services and programs which councils are expected to provide."
