Rate rise is Liberal Merger Tax, says Tesch
Member for Gosford Ms Liesl Tesch has blamed the State Liberal Government for the rate rise she is calling the "Liberal Merger Tax".
"This rate rise is a Liberal Merger Tax being forced onto our community to prop up a mega-Council which wasn't fit-for-future," she said.
"Liberal Government amalgamation and revolving-door-administration has left the Coast with higher bills to pay, less services, massive cuts to local jobs and a huge public land fire sale."
She said the Peninsula community would now be forced to fork out up an extra 45 per cent in rates while services get cut, jobs slashed and roads get put on the never-never.
"We're going to be paying more for even less - all of this on top of the massive sell-off of public assets is just a kick in the guts.
"Anyone who thinks the merger of Wyong and Gosford Council's was a success must be joking.
"When this Liberal Government forced Gosford and Wyong together without a vote from our community, they plagued us with now almost half a decade of debt and poor service delivery," she said
"We know that the costs of merging our Gosford with Wyong was close to $100 million with on-going costs in the tens of millions and yet the NSW Liberal Government only provided $10 million to cover their bungled amalgamation."
"Eight out of the 10 Councils which are currently in IPART asking for huge rate rises are Councils which were merged under the Liberal botched amalgamations.
"Council's across New South Wales which were forced to merge are being hit by this huge tax to pay and feeling this same pain."
SOURCE:
Media release, 20 May 2021
Liesl Tesch, Member for Gosford