Several ratepayers chose to speak to their submissions in the recent budget s233 process. This process is a legal requirement under the Local Government Act. Council cannot approve a Budget until they have given, AND CONSIDERED, responses from ratepayers.
After reviewing the live stream of this meeting I felt compelled to write a letter of complaint to the Administrators since in my opinion, and it should be self-evident from watching the 5 minutes that I spoke for, that at least two of the 3 administrators were not listening.
Neither Administrator Brown or Zahra actually made any commentary on what was in the current proposed budget. Both claimed that Council was in a strong financial position, a claim that is not in dispute.
I am a welfare Officer here at the Fish Creek RSL . We are delivering food to people in need , Fish Creek School, and Meeniyan School , for people doing it tough , we supply food clothing and furniture also have helped several families that have lost everything in the fires , and still have received no financial help from all the moneys donated.
An article in this week’s Sentinel Times (page 7) called “Rate relief Plan Misses the Mark” discusses the two circulating petitions from Matt Sherry calling for a zero rate rise in this year’s budget and a second unrelated petition from Don Hill calling for an $800 refund to all ratepayers for this year.