Community & Business
13 August, 2024
Are we better together?
One of the survivors of the pre-amalgamation era - Councillor Carol Taylor - says the effects of amalgamation are more complex than most people realise in this Q & A.
1. What have been the benefits and drawbacks of amalgamation, in general terms?
The amalgamation was seven rural shires and the city.
What has been forgotten when considering benefits/ downsides, is that at the time of amalgamation the state government took away the 40% subsidy to councils for essential infrastructure.
This withdrawal of the long time subsidy affected all councils, particularly around services such as water and waste water, road upgrades to cater for strong growth and footpaths linking neighbourhoods.
The upside of amalgamation is that because of the strength of our region, money could be spent where critical.
The need to spend the above in some areas meant that other shires missed out on “nice to have” infrastructure.
2. Are the towns and villages as well looked
after in all aspects as
before? A common complaint has been the maintenance of footpaths and roads hasn’t been as great since 2009.
As mentioned above once the subsidy was removed council struggled to provide the “ nice to have” projects to focus on what council classes as essential.
Many in our small communities don’t realise what is spent in their areas because it’s not “sexy”.
Many shires had little or no stormwater drainage strategies.
Premier (Peter Beattie) promised every amalgamated council would have better service and improved amenities.
As costs rose, this wasn’t affordable.
As a former Mayor of Cambooya I know we worked hard with the former Pittsworth and Millmerran shires to establish a “shared services” model.
There was precious discernment on genuinely working through this proposal - but the government rode roughshod over us all.
If council, for instance, mowed footpaths - rates would rise by quite a bit . It is appreciated as a matter of community pride for residents to mow their footpath area.
The state owns the road reserve - council administers this area on behalf of state.
Our road network is certainly worsening. With roads our biggest value it’s easier to either keep funding at the same level or taking funds away from
In a growing community our roads need to improve to meet the need.
This isn’t happening and certainly won’t for some years.
3. Are there any areas where amalgamation has improved the quality of service provided by local government?
Yes.
The ability to have staff teams to develop, design and administer - small councils had wonderful staff who contributed in many areas but we often couldn’t afford or attract highly skilled management in the shires.
Toowoomba Regional Council gave a customer service call centre staffed by helpful people.
4. Cr Bill Cahill has often commented that he prefers the current system of election as he feels councillors work better together than under other systems such as geographical divisions. What are your thoughts?
Councils - or communities don’t have the say on how council areas are structured for “divisions” geographically or otherwise.
The numbers have to be within 10% of each other and the (Electoral) Commissioner decides.
Upon amalgamation, the steering committee was given three options:
# Undivided (as we are now)
# Divided with the centre taking in a part of the city population.
# One councillor for the areas of Cambooya, Pittsworth, Clifton.
# Two councillors for Jondaryan, Crows Nest and Rosalie.
As noted by many, the rural areas had seven councillors on the amalgamated TR council.
There have not been many candidates from the rural areas this last election and I’m the only one who has spent the majority of my life embedded in small communities.
I fear that by not putting forward candidates and working for their success then we will have issues with knowledge and connection to our unique rural areas.
5. To that end, how well have Councils worked together as a group in your time with Cambooya Shire and across various different TRC four-year periods since amalgamation?
Its not appropriate for me to comment on this but I will broadly.
The first council worked very hard to put processes in place to allow the amalgamated council to function.
One day there were eight councils, the next day, we had one.
Councillors (mostly) certainly put the entire community first to ensure all felt connected.
Over time - and with a large council - this sentiment has weakened, I believe perhaps not consciously, and with no rural perspective I fear it will worsen.
6. What’s something you’d like people in the towns and regions to understand about how TRC works that you think isn’t appreciated?
I believe that our road network is the worst it has ever been even after the events of the big flood and with four disaster events in the 2022/23 financial year.
Costs have risen, specialist staff are in short supply and the money assigned to the network has stayed the same which has only one result for the network!
The road network is important to everyone in our region, but our rural residents sometimes see it as the only thing they receive from Council.
Many Councils in Queensland have or have had dedicated levies or special funds for their road networks.
Weather events, increased traffic, higher production of agricultural goods and bigger, safer transport vehicles are worsening road conditions on roads not designed for such traffic.
Most councils are in the same position but our council owns over 86% of the roads in our shire - a long length. This is second in Queensland.
I would like people to know that over 40% of local government in Queensland are financially at risk.
At Toowoomba Region, we work hard to stay inside the sustainable guidelines.
Local government in Australia is critically underfunded and only receives 3c in every $1 of taxation.
Devolution of services by state and federal government is at a record high level and our residents need to know that local government isn’t recognised in the Constitution - so state can do what it likes with local government.
