March 5, 2013
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann and Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell went to Brisbane today to lobby Local Government Minister David Crisafulli to extend the period for emergency flood funding.
The South Burnett Regional Council is concerned it could soon run out of the emergency funding it has been granted to pay for repairs to the region’s flood-damaged roads.
Under current disaster recovery arrangements, all the council’s outlays for repairs since the Australia Day flood have been covered by the QRAA (formerly known as the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority).
However the QRAA funding window only lasts for 60 days after a flood event, and the “open chequebook” is due to close towards the end of the month.
After this time, a council either has to pay for flood repairs out of its own funds and hope that money to cover its outlays will later come from the State and Federal governments; or cease flood repair works until such funding does become available.
After the 2011 floods, the SBRC chose to wait when it faced a repair bill of $25.9 million – an amount equal to more than half its annual budget.
It then took almost a year for money to arrive.
The council believes the State Government should now extend the 60-day emergency funding window – or restart it – following more damage sustained in the region during the February 25 and March 2 downpours.
This would allow the SBRC to ensure vital road repairs can continue to be carried out without affecting its other services.
