18 March 2020
URGENT COMMUNICATION
Mayor and Councillors
City of Launceston Council, Town Hall, St John Street LAUNCESTON 7250
Dear Councillors,
RE : MEETING AGENDA DOCUMENTS - LCC Budget 2020-21 and the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19 health Crisis).
This is not the time to impose rate increases on your ratepayers who will be experiencing unprecedented financial hardships, whether they be business ratepayers, residential ratepayers, both pensioner residents and working ratepayers be they full time or part-time employed and the only responsible thing to do is to rewrite the Budget.
Instead of trying to promote and justify a 3.9% rate increase, and a list of non-essential capital works projects, a rate reduction more like 10%, should in fact be considered.
The current emergency will have long lasting impacts on Tasmania and Launceston citizens and businesses. Whilst you may argue that the budget is in line with the 10 year plan and other documents, none of these considered the potential of the current emergency situation, and when the situation changes, so must the plans have to change.
Regardless of the present dire circumstances, there can be no justification for ramming through the following programme:
“The proposed structures of the community information and consultation process are:
· 19 March 2020 - Council resolves to approve the release of the proposed annual plan and statutory estimates for comment.
· four week period for comment.
· 17 April 2020 - Submissions close at 5.00pm.
· 21 May 2020 - Submissions will be presented to Councillors for consideration.
· 11 June 2020 - Council adopts the annual plan, determines the rating resolution and adopts the budget.”
Council must go back immediately and revise the entire budget and not approve the current plan for release on the 19th.
This is not just a matter of striking a rate, but also a reconsideration of proposed fees.
Item 19.1 Council Fees 2020/2021
TRA asks for wholesale review of the Fees and Charges. The fees for adult entry to the Aquatic centre are not in accordance with council’s own guidelines below:
“Principles for setting fees
The review of fees for 2020/2021 continues to be predicated on the same principles applied in previous years.
“The real value of fees should be maintained over time; must increase annually by at least the consumer price index (our emphasis) . In the context of the 2020/2021 budget a general baseline of 3% increase has been applied. This has been affected by rounding in many instances. The majority of fees and charges should (ordinarily) be commercially appropriate.
· Competitive in the market (not subsidised by rates).
· Provide an adequate business return.
· Fees and charges that relate to services provided should be cost reflective.
· Fee concessions should be provided in a consistent and strategic context.
· Targeted provision of concession.
· Appropriate relativity between full and concessional fees.
· Structure fees with payment incentives rather than payment penalties (where
· appropriate).
· Structure fees to assist with the achievement of strategic customer outcomes and behaviours.
· Continued simplification and consolidation of fees wherever possible.
· The appropriate setting of fees is an important way in which the City of Launceston can obtain a wider contribution to regional facilities.” (Agenda 19 March, page 111)
TRA has not been able to examine each and every proposed charge but it is noted that the Leisure and Aquatic Centre Adult Casual entry from 2019-20 at $7.60 is unchanged in 2020-21. This fee, in any event, is therefore in breach of your own principle “The real value of fees should be maintained over time; must increase annually by at least the consumer price index”
Furthermore there is no specific comment to explain why it has been considered inappropriate to increase the above fee by the general 3% baseline. Perhaps (again) this is in the expectation, neither the councillors or the community will pick this up!
It is recommended that all fees be reviewed and the data presented in a manner that makes easy comparison of the fee in the last 2 years and the proposed fee for 2020-21.
The Leisure and Aquatic Centre is a large cost borne by ratepayers, many of whom do not gain benefit from using it. Council should have a plan to make it a self-sustaining operation funded by users and apply to its fees the principle above it purports to use.
Budget
19.2 Draft Proposed 2020/2021 Annual Plan and Statutory Estimates (Budget)
This item comprises a few pages of blurb in the agenda itself plus 3 separate attachments.
1 Annual Plan (ECM Document Set ID 4259234)
2 Proposed Statutory Estimates including the Capital Projects 2020/2021 (ECM Document Set ID 4259258)
3 Major Operational Projects 2020/2021 (ECM Document Set ID 4259264)
These 3 give precious little detail. There is nothing we can find on the Vehicle Driving Centre at Lawrence Vale Road for instance, in spite of the media stating that $1m is to be spent there!
There should be a detailed spreadsheet with every single line item of expenditure but we cannot find it.
In conclusion, we find it remarkable, that your Agenda for the Council Meeting could have been written with complete disregard for the rapidly spiralling health emergency and impacts on the Tasmanian economy. The predicted impacts have been in the public arena for weeks, yet City of Launceston Council seems to be existing in some sort of bubble, divorced from the grim reality.
Please understand the emergency faced in Launceston and withdraw the Agenda items as published.
Yours faithfully
Lionel Morrell
Lionel. J. Morrell
President
Tasmanian Ratepayers Association Inc.
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