Shoalhaven Action Campaign

Media release - 24 June

With the Council election due in less than three months the majority of Shoalhaven City Councillors have used the annual budget in a blatant vote buying exercise that puts financial responsibility second to the demands of re-election, according to Mayoral candidate Patricia Mason.

Mrs Mason, who will be standing with support from the Shoalhaven Action Campaign, said that at the Council briefing last Friday Councillors threw out any pretence of responsible financial management and went for broke with projects that will win them favour in local areas.

“All of these projects may be worthy, and the decision to limit increases in Council charges may be sound, but Council has, without any consideration for the long term financial future of the city, broken with its long standing debt reduction strategy and opted to borrow up to $2.2 million to meet the cost of these projects. The news coming from the Councillors briefing last week was that many of these projects had never been discussed and just appeared at the last minute as part of a Councillors wish list. ”

“For any of the Councillors to call this ‘A better and fairer budget’ is nothing more than an exercise in smoke and mirrors, aimed fairly and squarely at hoodwinking the public with the good news part of the story and leaving out the bad news,” Mrs Mason concluded.