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The Forum > General Discussion > Ha Ha, Ho Ho, Some bureaucrats have got to go.

Ha Ha, Ho Ho, Some bureaucrats have got to go.

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Got my rates notice the other day. It is a totally ridiculous price for what I get from council. At 24 kilometres from town, you can bet not much.

20 years ago my rates were $678 a year, about a fortnights pension cheque a year. Today they are $1662 for just 6 months. That is about a months pension but twice a year. In fact, go back 28 years & my rates were $123.

From another perspective, my rates have gone up by an average of 19% every year for the last 20 years, & a whopping 25.8% every year for the last 28 years.

So what extra services do we get for about 16% of a pensioners income. Well we no longer have 8 hours of library in our local hall, replaced by 3 or 4 hours of mobile truck, & no longer on Saturday morning, so workers have no access.

They closed our tip/transfer station in the name of efficiency, so our 1000 residents can each drive 24 kilometres to the town tip, rather than a council truck make the run a couple of times a week.

I think we do still get a truck with a load of bitumen, & 2 men with shovels, every couple of years to patch our potholes, Opps I mean road, but It’s a while since I saw it. If it still comes it is a bloody expensive truck.

Our Rural watch has a thousand members, so over 1000 rateable properties here. That’s at least $3,300,000 income, & what do we get for that, a cast of thousands sitting on expensive chairs in town, & stuff all else I would say.

These ridiculous rate increases have to stop, & about all that can do that in our area is to reduce the useless bums on seats at the council. There are definitely no economies that could be made around here. At this rate, council rates will exceed my total income in about 12 years.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 5 August 2016 11:03:01 AM
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Hasbeen,
I now see that our new environment minister, HUnt, has reversed the previous decision to downsize the CSIRO and ordered the hiring of more climate scientists. That will make your day.

Makes one think we should consider a political cull every year, or maybe have an open season.
Posted by Banjo, Friday, 5 August 2016 11:58:24 AM
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Seems to me that you shouldn't be paying rates at all if those rates are supposed to cover services received. Councils are one layer of government that could be easily abolished. We are over-governed and under-serviced.
Posted by ttbn, Friday, 5 August 2016 12:03:14 PM
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The latter sounds like the best idea Banjo, but it will have to include the top bureaucrats.

From what I've seen of our local councillors, quite a bit a while back, most councillors are captive of the town clerk, & his top department heads, & are led down the garden path like lambs to the slaughter.

The thought did occur to me at a water planning meeting some years back that the pay rates of bureaucrats is probably dependent on the number of people they oversee. There had to be some reason that they continue to add useless bums on seats in government departments & council offices.

It sure can't be for getting work done. In my experience, more people mean more "in" boxes, & every in box adds a week to the time required for anything to get done.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 5 August 2016 12:19:18 PM
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Hi Hasbeen,

Those rate increases seem extreme. Rates are supposed to be based on unimproved land valuations are they not? I don't understand how anybody living 24k from town could have such land value improvements over such a long period. Surely there's some sort of appeal system in place?

Are you willing to indicate where you live, at least in a general way?

I did some work for Sydney City Council many years back and the Lord Mayor of the day seemed to be completely at the mercy of the Town Clerk. The bureaucracy was immense. So I think local government is no different from state or federal sectors, where thousands of new bureaucrats are added on a regular basis. Thus most state health departments, for example, have more clerks than nurses and doctors.

Cheers,
Cato
Posted by cato, Friday, 5 August 2016 12:31:33 PM
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South of Brisbane cato.

We have in our rates,
State Government emergency management levy.
Separate Chg. - Community infrastructure.
Special charge Rural Fire.
Special levy Roads.
This just to cover what they want but can justify as normal rates.

Meanwhile we are unlucky to have a recent acreage development just 2 kilometres away. The prices they can now get for these 4000 Sq. MT blocks has pushed our values higher.

The councils decide how much they want, then set the rate. Where it was once about 0.006 it is now 0.008439.

It is the same anywhere you have a bureaucrat. 22 years ago, when I installed my off peak separately charged hot water system, the bill averaged $13 per quarter. That was with 3 kids, including 2 girls with long hair living here. Now with just 2 here it is running at just over $80 a quarter. That is a 615% or 27% a year increase.

Of course that B bludger Beattie had a fair bit to do with that, but I'll bet a large chunk of it is to pay overpaid bureaucrats.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 5 August 2016 3:09:56 PM
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