Since the MyCity article and my column last week about Council’s budget, I’ve had more than 700 comments on social media about the issue.
In case you missed it, it was about how Council’s operating surplus of $23 million had dropped to just $1 million – which means at that rate we will be in deficit by July.
Many of you were very grateful for the transparency. I want to make sure you are aware of these issues as they come up, and that they are communicated clearly to you.
I appreciate your frank discussions and ideas about what else Council can do, so this week I want to address some of the most common responses.
The first was cutting non-essential or unnecessary services, which is exactly what we’ve been working on through the budget: looking to find savings, eliminate waste and operate more efficiently.
Some people compared our rates and our budget to neighbouring cities but those that are cheaper than us either have some major advantages (like BCC and GC having big CBDs where they can charge rates on every level of every high rise), or they’re quite small and growing slowly so their costs aren’t going up very much (like Lockyer and Somerset).
Last week I was at Parliament with the Mayors of South East Queensland talking to the State Government about how they can help relieve pressure on ratepayers. We also spoke about the budget pressures that we’re all dealing with. A big one of those is depreciation.
It was one of the largest unavoidable costs that hit the surplus this year – it was an additional $14m above what we budgeted for.
For most businesses, depreciation of assets is a tax deduction and their assets often earn them income. But for Councils it’s an expense that we have to set funds aside for, often long before they’re needed to replace the asset. Our assets like roads, parks, and libraries don’t generate income either. It’s a double whammy on our bottom line.
I’ll continue answering your Council budget questions on my social media page this week – so please join in at facebook.com/MayorJonRaven
