Have efficiency and economies occurred?
In response to the article "Council staff recommend rate rise" (Peninsula News edition 470), ratepayers should be sceptical of the recommendation to apply the maximum allowable increase to rates proposed by staff.
The rationale for council amalgamations was to realise efficiency and scale economies in service delivery.
Should Council approve this proposal some clarification of whether such economies occurred and how any such savings have been utilised ought be reported to ratepayers.
If no such economies have been generated, it might be useful to consider whether the Coast community has been subjected to an exercise of unhelpful bureaucratisation and how to remedy this unexpected outcome.
Email, 28 May 2019
Pete Newman, Umina