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Ingram calls on federal candidates to tackle council fundingBy Craig Ingram - 15th September 2004 - Back to News The Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has called on the candidates and parties contesting the federal seat of Gippsland to commit to addressing the disgraceful cost shifting and funding inequities that are crippling rural councils and causing spiralling rate increases.
"A recent article in the Sunday Herald Sun reinforces the need for the Commonwealth Government to extend its ‘fairer tax system’ to Local Government," Mr Ingram said.
"The present system of local government rating was devised literally in the horse and buggy days when the maintenance of all roads and bridges was a local matter.
"A report to the Commonwealth Parliament has criticised ‘cost-shedding’ by both State and Commonwealth governments.
"The Municipal Association of Victoria highlights in a fact sheet the extent of the problem of cost shifting in areas such as child care, immunisation, home and community aged care services, public libraries, planning and aging infrastructure costs which are passed onto local government without adequate funds to cover the costs of delivering those services.
"Despite numerous reports and inquiries over the past four years drawing attention to the crisis that has developed, particularly in rural municipalities, no political party has announced any plan to deal with this problem.
"The Commonwealth government admits that its Local Government Financial Assistance Act is flawed, but there are no plans to fix it.
"Gippslanders should demand action from the federal election candidates to rectify a system that sees pensioners living in the country paying up to six times the rates on a property of the same value as they are called upon to pay in some metropolitan municipalities.
"For example the six Gippsland municipalities pay $66 million more in rates and receive less in services than ratepayers in the City of Stonnington, which has almost an equal total property valuation.
"The first step is agreeing to remove the ‘as of right’ entitlement provisions in the Grants Commission Act which sees 30% of all commonwealth road grants going to metropolitan councils, like Stonnington, who have no need for those road funds," Mr Ingram concluded.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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