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It seems that the intention at Town Hall is make you feel guilty for missing the advertisements and so on. You are supposed to feel like an inadequate ratepayer but fear not the GM, Robert Dobrzynski, is here to tell you everything is OK!
The council is in a "strong position" and you have no need to worry. But perhaps you should.
The tiny surplus, and it is tiny in the scheme of things, and especially so given that the Launceston City Council's budget is in the order of $100million.
You may not remember that General Manager Robert Dobrzynski uses the newspaper to put a nice shine on things but at other times he is out there predicting big deficits ahead.
Therefore this $80K will be needed to cut the losses ahead, losses that nobody is talking about, least of all the aldermen.
What must be said about the financial reporting that Mr. Dobrzynski presents is that in the end it is little more than empty self serving rhetoric. There is no detail and no way to get it.
The figures, if you look closely, seem to be designed to hide the real situation from the ratepayers of the city. Most importantly the aldermen all seem to be missing in action and leaving the story telling and spin to the general manager. Where are they?
It was not that long ago that Ald. Sands was telling us that LCC had two accountants on the council and as for the mayor, an accountant, where is he?
If accountability is what ratepayers expect from their representatives it appears as if they, the aldermen, do not see it as their job to deliver it.
If accountability is what ratepayers expect from their representatives it appears as if they, the aldermen, do not see it as their job to deliver it.
The advertising for this AGM falls well short of requirements. OK all the right boxes are ticked in regard to the statutory requirements but do they hit their mark?
Not so very long ago council AGMs were well attended but last year's attendance was shockingly low ... less than 10 attendees.
While ratepayers keep quiet their rates will continue to rise without constraint.
Already Launceston's rates are the highest in Tasmania and many Launcestonians have interstate relatives and friends in large cities paying significantly less ... even in Sydney and Melbourne.
T Vale Dec 6 2015
2 comments:
Council could be $4.5 million ahead if they'd sold the Inveresk site to UTas instead od just giving it away!
Launcestons financial position is concealed by impenetrable and vague accounts, a failure to connect expenditures to real, observable outcomes and a complete lack of interest in clarifying the situation so that ratepayers can easily appreciate what's happening.
The opaque reporting is the reverse of Council's own espoused values, which now seem like 'aspirational' claims designed to head off criticism.
The cosy clique of aldermen is well represented by a figurehead of a mayor who finds every reason to avoid scrutiny and instead leaves everything to the General Manager, whose actual credentials appear to be a secret.
Very cosy....and very suspicious.
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