October 29, 2015
The cost of stringing a banner across Kingaroy Street or Knight Street could quadruple from $200 to $800 if the SBRC agrees to adopt a recommendation from its Traffic Advisory Committee.
At this week’s Council meeting, Councillors heard that community groups who supply banners for the Kingaroy sites currently pay a fee of around $200.
But Council staff put up and take down the banners and the real cost to Council is around $800, leaving ratepayers $600 out of pocket every time a banner is changed.
The motion to either put an end to banners or increase fees to a cost-recovery level was moved by Cr Damien Tessmann and seconded by Cr Deb Palmer.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said he thought banners were an outdated way of advertising and community groups had many other options open to them these days.
But Councillors Keith Campbell, Kathy Duff, Ros Heit and Barry Green disagreed.
“Many community groups use these banners to promote major events that bring a lot of visitors to the area,” Cr Campbell said.
“I think they’re still an effective way to promote things like the Burrandowan Picnic Races, Wine and Food In The Park or other events, and we should keep this facility available.”
Cr Green said he agreed.
So did Cr Heit, who said that she liked the banners and didn’t want to see an end to them.
But if cost was an issue she wasn’t opposed to increasing fees – if not to a full cost-recovery level, then at least to a level which trimmed back current losses.
Another question that vexed the meeting was that if banners were to remain but usage fees increase, when should the price rise occur?
Councillors heard that many groups have booked their banners well in advance and have already drawn up their budgets based on the current cost.
It would be unfair to suddenly bring in a price rise without providing adequate advance warning.
In the end, the motion to put an end to banners and/or quadruple their current price was defeated 4 to 3.
Councillors agreed to continue to look into the matter – along with possible alternatives that might be more suitable – and bring the issue back to the table at a future Council meeting.
I would be interested to see the traffic committee/SBRC calculation on how a small job like this can cost $800. With two men, one step ladder, allowing one hour to put it up and another hour to remove it. How much are we paying these blokes? $200 an hour!! Please note this does not include the cost of the TAC sitting around adding this up.
Of course it costs $800. I don’t know how they do it so cheaply! Four traffic controllers, six council workers (one to do the job and five to supervise) all paid on time from base – even if it is 40 mins away!
If two blokes turn up at 6:00am (no traffic to control) with the banner and cherry picker – 1/2 hour to erect – 6pm removal 1/2 hour to remove – pay the boys 1 1/2 time and we would still be $600 in front!
How many SBRC employees does it take to change a banner? Answer 20, One to hold the ladder, one to tie the banner up and 18 to worry about how much it cost and work out where to send the bill.