Roads would be repaired faster, bins would be provided and emptied year-round and streetscape beautification would proceed if Canberra lifted the freeze on its Federal Assistance Grants to Shoalhaven City Council.
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That’s the message from Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley, who on Wednesday afternoon urged the federal government to honour its promise to restore indexation to the local government Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) payments in the upcoming 2017-18 budget.
“The untied FAGs are an important part of our revenue base, allowing us to provide and maintain Shoalhaven City Council’s local community infrastructure and services such as community halls, libraries and parks,” Cr Findley said.
“If the federal government reinstated the $1.2 million per annum that has been stripped over the last three years of the freeze, and it applied the CPI growth for the future years of the grant, a bit over 2 per cent of the proposed special rate variation increase would not have been required.”
Cr Findley said the grants freeze had impacted on road repairs, which is looming as a major challenge after heavy March rainfall.
“The FAG payment has allowed for council to service over 45km of local road to be repaired and resurfaced annually.
“The freeze has already impacted the road sealing contract and over 10km of road that was planned for repair has been deferred. Capital projects such as renewing streetscapes in Berry and Sussex Inlet continue to be deferred,” she said.
Cr Findley said council’s ability to maintain public buildings and infrastructure such as footpaths has been impacted by the freeze.
“Further reductions or continuance of the freeze will lead to reduced service levels in some key services such as libraries and swimming pool opening hours.”
She attributed a reduction in litter bin servicing and the removal of over 400 bins in winter to the freeze and said the cleaning of more than 120 amenities would need to be reduced if it was not lifted.
Shoalhaven City Council has joined other councils around the country in a campaign to ensure the federal government honours its promise to restore indexation to FAGs in the 2017-18 budget.
Cr Findley’s comments drew a sharp response from Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis.
The Mayor should be reminded that the Shoalhaven City Council has been the beneficiary of the single highest Black Spot Funding of any local government area in Australia,” Mrs Sudmalis said.
Council had received $17 million through the Black Spot Program of $17 $22 million from the Roads to Recovery Program, Mrs Sudmalis said.
“And don’t forget the $10 million for the investigation and engineering planning for the new Nowra Bridge.”