Earlier this year, Mayor Sue Heins used her casting vote to approve the Northern Beaches council budget, and it is still a memory that gets her fired up.
“Council spent two and half hours debating the budget and when everyone had to vote, the councillors made sure it was a 50/50 split so that I had to make the casting vote,” the incumbent mayor (and Your Northern Beaches Independent Team (YNBIT) Frenchs Forest candidate) told Michael Lester at Radio Northern Beaches.
Heins says it was a political move – no one wanted voters to remember they approved a budget which saw the maximum allowed rate rise. Particularly with the next local government election then months away (14 September if you wanted to pop it in your diary).
“Budgets are a contentious issue and while there are rumours that the Council is broke, we aren’t but we have to be fiscally responsible by planning for the future, planning for the upkeep of our assets, planning for the projects our residents want for the community, and being aware of increasing costs,” she said.
Heins said that the Council’s long-term financial plan won’t hold up and after the elections, councillors voted in by the community will need to make some hard decisions.
“Local councils are the largest asset holders in Australia, but we have the least amount of money,” Heins explained to Lester.
Northern Beaches Council has just under a half a billion dollar annual budget, with almost six billion dollars’ worth of assets to maintain, around 270,000 residents to provide services for and a five million dollar deficit.
“Councillors who voted against the budget weren’t being concerned with Northern Beaches residents and providing the services they need,” Heins added.
“What services would we have to cut if we weren’t going to increase the rates? No pools because we have ocean pools? Fewer daycare centres? No maintenance for community buildings? Roads with potholes?”
Another reason for the increase in rates was the cost shifting by state government.
“One example is the Emergency Services levy,” she explained to Lester.
“Emergency Services are imperative to Council, and we pay a levy to help fund their services in our area. You always expect an increase, but the levy went from $8.5 million to $11.5 million with no warning. Our levy is the largest in NSW because our assets are worth so much more compared to other councils.”
Council also has to plan for the cost of two or three disaster events, and while they can seek reimbursement from state government (only if the disaster and damage fulfil the criteria), disaster recovery reimbursement takes three to 10 years.
“Councils become a credit card, but with no interest and the cost of repairs increasing by the time you finally get reimbursed,” Heins said.
One argument against the rate rise was the cost of staffing the Council (which takes up about 40 per cent of the annual budget).
“We need staff who are going to do the job well, but we also need enough staff so that they don’t experience burn out from excessive hours or an inability to take leave because of lack of someone to take on their responsibilities,” she argued.
Reflecting on her time as mayor, Sue Heins said she was the right person to replace long-time mayor Michael Regan because, unlike many in local government she “wasn’t ambitious” and has no aspirations to climb the ladder. She has been around a long time and could connect people across the political divides, she had hoped.
Michael Lester questioned whether the departure of Michael Regan as long-time mayor in a relatively stable council caused a sense of fracture amongst the local representation.
“Yes I think Council had to sort of reinvent itself and who it wanted to be,” she replied.
With no official Liberal candidates now able to contest the election, it is likely Your Northern Beaches will have a majority in the new council. Before the nomination blunder, it had been predicted that a Liberal majority might hold the next term of council.
The Council is currently in caretaker mode until the elections on Saturday, 14 September, which Heins is running for her home ward, Frenchs Forest.
You can listen to the full interview on Radio Northern Beaches here.
