June 4, 2015
The South Burnett Regional Council will forgive a $32,753.28 water bill run up by the Murgon Sports Association because the group now has just one active member and less than $1000 in its bank account.
The Association is supposed to represent the interests of the four main groups which use the Macalister Street sports fields – the Murgon Show Society, Murgon Rugby League Club, Barambah Soccer Club and the Murgon & District Cricket Club.
But the Association hasn’t met for the past 12 to 24 months, and its sole member is only keeping the group alive in the hope it might reform with a new committee.
Cr Kathy Duff told fellow councillors at Wednesday’s SBRC meeting the problem had arisen because the former Murgon Shire Council used to provide water to the Association at no charge.
The SBRC began charging the group for water at a concessional rate after the council mergers in 2008.
But the committee was not aware that the water bills were accumulating.
At Wednesday’s General Meeting, Council officers suggested three ways the Council could deal with the Association’s outstanding debt:
- Pursue repayment of the the debt in full
- Waive 60 per cent of the debt and pursue the Association for the remaining $13,101, or
- Waive the entire amount
Cr Duff recommended the third option, saying the Association’s sole remaining member would be personally liable if Councillors decided to pursue the debt, and she didn’t think this was fair.
“A new committee is the way forward,” Cr Duff said.
“This is an old debt and it’s not like a ratepayer debt because Council own the grounds and many other not-for-profit community groups use this facility, too.
“But this debt is standing in the way of that new committee being formed.”
Cr Keith Campbell said he agreed with most of what Cr Duff said.
“This is an unrecoverable debt and it’s delaying the formation of a new committee. A new Murgon Sportsground Association needs to be formed and properly run,” he said.
Cr Deb Palmer said she also supported writing off the debt, providing the Council kept a strict watch over water usage at the grounds in future.
Cr Ros Heit thought the former Association’s behaviour was “regrettable”.
“This is a very disappointing state of affairs,” Cr Heit said.
“Each year Council gives $250,000 in rates remissions to clubs and organisations in the South Burnett, and of that over $12,500 is given to the Murgon Sports Association.
“Now we find that on top of that the Sports Association has used nearly $60,000 worth of water and because of the community group remission, now owe $32,000.
“This isn’t money Council has stashed away. The Sports Association is asking every other ratepayer in the South Burnett to subsidise them.”
Cr Heit said many ratepayers were struggling to pay their rates and she thought it was unfair they were being asked to subsidise the group.
Sports Portfolio chair Cr Barry Green said another part of the problem was that water usage between the different groups who used the grounds was unequal.
The Cricket Club was probably the highest user because that sport was played in hotter months, he said, while the two football clubs used the grounds in cooler weather and likely used much less.
However, there were no individual meters on the grounds to monitor each group’s usage, and without an Irrigation Management Plan disputes between the Association’s members were inevitable.
“Part of me says to run with the recommendation (to pursue the debt) and part says no,” Cr Green said.
“But on balance I think if we’re going to get all of this on a better footing, this debt is standing in the way. So we need to deal with that first.”
Cr Duff’s suggestion the debt be written off, providing the Council enter into an Irrigation Management Plan with all major water users at the grounds, was carried unanimously.
The Council will also install flow restriction devices to prevent further irrigation – but still supply water to the Sportsground’s amenities – until the Irrigation Management Plan has been signed off.
