October 26, 2022
A report breaking down what the South Burnett Regional Council has spent in each of its six divisions over the past 10 years will be tabled early next year.
Cr Kirstie Schumacher moved at the SBRC’s General Meeting on Wednesday that staff prepare a report showing:
- The financial contribution and percentage of total general revenue the SBRC received from every town and village from 2013-14 to 2022-23, and
- The financial spend and percentage of Council’s capital budget (including grant funds) made in each division over the same period.
The report will be presented February’s Finance Standing Committee meeting.
In her rationale for seeking the report, Cr Schumacher said she was concerned Council’s reputation was being trashed by online commentary which implied SBRC funds have been solely invested in Kingaroy to the disadvantage of neighbouring towns and villages.
She said she was seeking the information in the “spirit of transparency”.
However, Cr Kathy Duff – who moved a motion to suspend standing orders to allow a free-flowing conversation – said she was “really distressed and disturbed” by the motion which she described as “divisive”.
She also believed preparing the report would be a big imposition on staff.
“And why 10 years? Why not go right back to amalgamation? I’m absolutely opposed to this,” she said.
Cr Jane Erkens – who seconded Cr Schumacher’s motion – said she held a different view.
“I support this motion because … we’re here to support the whole region, not just our area, and I think it gives us an opportunity to go back to our communities and show (them) where the money has been spent,” Cr Erkens said.
She said while it was true that Kingaroy contributed the most funds of any town, it was also true that funds were spent according to need, not geography.
“I think that’s something we all need to be aware of, and I think we will all be surprised at where the money has been spent,” Cr Erkens said.
Cr Danita Potter also agreed.
“This would be an interesting set of numbers that will help us do our jobs better,” Cr Potter said.
She said there was already division in the community – as could be seen on social media – and the information may actually bring people together.
Cr Scott Henschen said the report might help improve the community’s understanding of how Council tried to work to advance the region as a whole.
“It (this report) will show the general public exactly what’s been happening in this Council,” Cr Henschen said.
“Cr Schumacher, I commend you for bringing this forward and Cr Erkens and Cr Potter for supporting it.
“I think this is something the general public needs to see.”
Cr Duff said she was still opposed to the idea because of the cost in staff resources to prepare the report.
However, Cr Henschen said he believed most of the information was already in Council spreadsheets, including a four-year set of similar data recently presented at another Council meeting.
Infrastructure General Manager Aaron Meehan agreed the report would take time to prepare but noted that a lot of it could be assembled by working through Council’s capitalisation records.
When the motion was put to a vote, it was carried 5-1, with Cr Duff opposed and Mayor Otto absent.
I commend council for this decision. The negative commentary has gone on for too long.
This report will either confirm or deny feelings many community members have been having for a long time.
Bring it on. No one should be afraid of the truth.
I think this is a great idea, when you see how much work is going on in Kingaroy and nowhere else, and our rates keep going up. Thanks for looking in to this.
Great motion Cr Schumacher and other Councillors for supporting it. Ratepayers in the WHOLE of the South Burnett would be very interested to see where and how much money has been spent in each Division. I believe the figure of spending should be told to ratepayers each financial year. Transparency and factual information is the key to a united front.
Great to see. Transparency is key to any business, especially those rely on public moneys (ie. ratepayers and different grants), to minimise wastage and checks and balances that all comply with the law.
But why only go back to amalgamation of the SBR Councils. Shouldn’t they show what profit or loss each council region brought with them, or were all debts written off?
This is important for all to see as to get a fair representation, not just “Kingaroy gets everything” comments that get thrown around, with each percentage for rates paid to money spent in that area. This would be a proven fact not a speculation or uneducated guess by all of the South Burnett rate payers, in my opinion only.
Greg, they’re going back 10 years – amalgamation happened in 2008. But you’ve raised a good point. It would be interesting to know what liabilities each of the four councils had at amalgamation.
So have the Council figures been locked away in secrecy all this time? That’s truly scandalous! Last I heard was these things are “public record” and are scrutinised/audited annually.
So we’re getting transparency on items already available to the public if they choose to seek them out? Ok, as clear as mud (or Kingaroy water!)
All that’s happening is gathering the figures over a decade and making them into a giant school project for presentation. (Should eat up a few hundred council paid hours & will possibly need a few meetings). Then when the dust settles, Facebook fanatics can twist & turn the figures into 50 different conspiracy theories. Should keep things lively for an extra decade!
But seriously, Cr Duff, has a good point, this will encourage divisiveness as different slants are placed on the figures presented.
There is a saying “a little knowledge can be a bad thing” and in the untrained hands of the general public, it will probably spell the end of some political careers.
This is a short-sighted idea, aimed at attaining the elusive “transparency” merit badge just to appease the online community. Very naïve thinking to pander to the keyboard warriors; it will open a bigger can of worms that they won’t be able to handle.
This Council will never go forward if it spends so much time looking backward & justifying actions that have been done & dusted for ages.