Ratepayers feeling pain of mergers | Coolum Property | Real Estate News for Coolum, Australia

Cut out all the underused clerks.

This is typical of this current government. They also merged government departments claiming this would be an efficiency and save money, without any job losses. This was a lie and is a farce! It is costing millions to merge computer systems and processes, just like the council, not to mention all the other costs. And hundreds have lost their jobs, mainly the temporary staff who often gained employment through agencies. Many permanent public servants are now also facing potential job loss.The whole merger has caused absolute chaos, cost thousands of dollars in unproductive time due to stress-related illnesses and will cost the public heaps as government charges will need to rise to cover their mistake. This government has mis-managed for so long and it only gets worse as time goes on. And now is "dictates" to council and the public. It is one of the most arrogant governments I have yet encountered. It's time we got rid of this Blight on our state!

What else can we expect, just another lying con from the Beattie, Bligh, government. The sooner they are buried the better. A bunch of kids could run this state better than them.

Um...no, I,m not going to say it again. You know...about the amalgamations. Noosa...all that stuff.

Those were the days eh BigBob. Anti Amalgamation rallies...marches in Brisbane. That was back in the days when King Beattie and his loyal court jester, Fraser came to reassure us all that we in Noosa would see great benefits from being forced under the yolk of the then Maroochy Council.

We would benefit by "Stronger Councils" which would save us money through "Economies of Scale" we were told.

Now King Beattie is gone. We have Fuhrer Bligh and the court jester in charge. Now we are going to see great benefits from requisitioned water supplies, pipelines to nowhere, vast greenfield estates all around us, empty State coffers, huge state debt, and State asset selloffs.

But, there is hope. We are going to be able to sack legions of Council staff to save us money. These will almost certainly come from the old Noosa and Caloundra Councils. Then we could probably close the Tewantin and Caloundra Chambers as well. A double benefit.

Meanwhile the State Government keeps getting bigger, and more expensive because they need to shoulder the additional burden of taking on more Council responsibilities.

But, don't worry. We are yet to see the benefits of Stronger Councils and Economies of Scale flowing from our Amalgamation. Only another 2...3...4...5? years.

On reading through this interesting story which again highlights the inability of the ALP government to put in place policies that work and to make proper decisions, there's much more pain ahead for us all. Hikes in taxation from their mates down there in Canberra is on the cards and possibly, the GST rising by a couple of percentage points. Noting that many councils are struggling, they must be remember that ratepayers don't have an endless supply of money.

Really??

Imagine that!

It all starts at the Top.....clean up the top and changes for the better happen...
Yes, paid parking for tourists not ratepayers.

As a Pensioner it is just impossible to live these days.

From where I am standing/sitting, it just seems that the officials in charge have no respect for the people of their electorate at all. They seem to treat us with utter contempt! They are inept and there seems to be no penalty for their ineptness.
Federal, State (especially) and local Govt's seem to think that they can just raise taxes at will and dream up new ways of bleeding us dryer and dryer.
If they could only use their imagination for planning, and respect for the electorate, all of our lives would improve incredibly.
The Govt needs to realise, when the people of this State are employed, and being paid genuine wages, and opportunities are flourishing, the people's lives and the economy improves dramatically.
When the economy improves, so will the Govt coffers without the need to bleed us dry for their ineptness.

Atapro, sort of agree with what you say but really, if you look at the current council exactly how many Maroochy councillors are there? Who are the current planners?

No, I think the problem from the start was the 3 year transition with high staff costs and now the reducing income streams of council. These are the real problems now evident in higher fees and charges.
I said this before, this was to be a corporation and run accordingly, that was the mantra after the elections.

Why is it then that the Council is about to spend $8.7mil on a piece of land for a park in Buderuim or did I miss read that news story. How much will it then cost to put a skatebowl in for the youth to hang at till all hours of the night.

Lol,

Beattie makes secret arrangements with worldwide corporations, thus ensuring the traveston dam and amalgamation be secretly set up and forced on the communities.

He then promises Capt Bligh and her band of merry corrupt men the top seat upon his departure to greener pastures, already set up for his "favours" in government, IF she supports him throughout the billion dollar nightmares of traveston and amalgamation.

Of course Capt Bligh is all to willing to jump at the chance to fall into the top job and all the power that's goes with it...so she obediently smiles and follows him around like the paid puppy she is.

The rest is history!

One day the truth will be revealed when the people behind beattie and Cpt Bligh are able to speak freely without fear of retribution.

Merri Rose showed us what happens to those who speak the truth.
Politics is carefully constructed in such a way to make us THINK one way...but the reality is very different.

I am wondering how she was re elected?
Are we all mindless noobs living in a fantasy world?

My cost for Council services is not a pain. As a percentage of the value of my property these additional, sometimes difficult to define, municipal services have actually significantly declined in the last decade. In the next decade lies further significant opportunities for Council cost reductions, and hopefully, re-allocations of municipal effort spent on community services. The future is looking rosy.

So let's get this right .... Bob Abbott, the man who protested against amalgamation until he was elected Mayor the amalgamated Council is now saying the rates will have to rise even though they rose under the previous 3 Councils anyway?

What a demoralising story this must be to read if you work for the Council.

I'm waiting to see a leaner council, if not, then the Council is definitely not doing its job.

How about starting by cutting the allowance for councillors to have breakfast! Cut their wages. None of them are performing well enough to be earning the big money. THey are all uneducated dills.

Too much bleating.

Not enough meaningful action.

Start CUTTINGS COSTS NOW! Dont know where or How? Start asking the ratepayers - ENGAGE!

Q. Why are there no consequences in Politics for blatant lies and failure to execute promises?

They are not all dills

Keryn Jones Bachelor of Social Science

Debbie Blumel Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Social Work Master of Social Work Master of Business Administration

Vivien Griffin Bachelor of Arts, Griffith University
Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations, Queensland University of Technology
Master of Science, Griffith University

as for the rest of the boys- you may be right!!

Oh you would be amazed at where your tax payer dollars are going!

Those in council a little higher than the foot soldiers, spend their days instructing the foot soldiers to complete "their" work, fishing or home watching TV .

Or if they are at work, they scan the net for "courses" to do, in states/areas where they may have a family gathering or want to meet up with friends.

They then apply to do the course which will take them UP a pay level, they then also take along their family, get the tax payer funded car, stay in a tax payer funded resort , enjoy a lovely holiday at tax payers expense, not even attend the tax payer paid course, return home, get a pay rise for extra skills they have now aquired due to "doing" the course.

This is a only one of many tax payer funded scams which also includes engineering overseas holidays for those further up the scale.

But they all do it, or have done it ,so they carefully watch each others backs and keep quiet.

Id the public knew the truth....they would be horrified.

These scams to not include the lower scale foot soldiers, many work very hard, and the credit for their hard work, goes to their boss, after he gets back from his 5 th "course/holiday this year...tax payer funded of course.

Desley Boyle would not have the intellect or integrity to analyse the council amalgamation issues.

The historical reality is that both the ALP and Coalition obeyed World Bank and IMF ( ie GATS, GATT, Lima Agreement, free trade agreements, etc) directives to remove tariffs, which formerly protected Australia's family farmers and manufacturers .

With tariffs gone, Australia was flooded with cheap subsidised third world goods and foodstuffs, thereby driving 90% of our family farmers bankrupt, and about two thirds of our manufacturers to the wall.

The hardest hit populations were rural and regional, driven into the red by impoverished rate payers. Rather than do the obvious and restore tariffs, (which every nation's voters are now demanding), Government forced the fund-starved councils to amalgamate with more prosperous urban local governments.

The measure was never intended to save the ratepayer money, but to hit us harder than ever. This is only going to get worse.

But if people take such treatment they deserve it.