I have heard on numerous occasions that our Council staff are "heavy at the top" and there are "too many Chiefs and not enough Indians"...other comments simmer around "over stacked, over rated and over paid" at various management levels within the Council.
If this has some semblance of truth ? did Cr Airlie Keen examine/question the existing Org Structure to maybe find some "belt tightening" within those mid and upper level ranks?
How does the expenditure to manage our Council compare to other Councils with similar demographics?
It would be interesting to find out the population-to-staff ratio or something like that. Although I wonder how useful it would be when different councils have such different needs, eg. Mid Murray and Coorong having a million miles of road to maintain, Karoonda a tiny population etc. Perhaps it would be better to compare against other regional cities? (Not that there are many in SA.)
I am alarmed that we have the highest rate in the dollar. I see it only as a money grabbing for Council to maintain the large work force it seems to need without any transparency and accountability.
Sadly it's simply a scam against the community. With all the sub divisions of land, new houses bring built, so much extra revenue for councils, but sadly no accountability to where this extra money goes, and with the rate in the dollar being so much higher than most other councils throughout SA, something needs to be done, it's simply wrong that the community are rorted to pay huge councils rates compared to anywhere else in SA. The Murray Bridge council needs to be investigated externally to seek answers as to what's really going on? Proper independent accountability is needed. The community needs to stand united against such high rates compared to any other SA areas.
In fairness, there is some accountability – the public can look right through the council's budget each year and make suggestions about how to change it before it's finalised. And councillors are elected to keep an eye on the staff. But you're right about rates being high – the last time I checked, about five years ago (https://murrayvalleystandard.com.au/news/2018/10/09/we-rate-your-property-rates/), Murray Bridge was top 10 for charging the highest rate in the dollar in SA. I'd like to redo that work and see how we measure up now...
I have heard on numerous occasions that our Council staff are "heavy at the top" and there are "too many Chiefs and not enough Indians"...other comments simmer around "over stacked, over rated and over paid" at various management levels within the Council.
If this has some semblance of truth ? did Cr Airlie Keen examine/question the existing Org Structure to maybe find some "belt tightening" within those mid and upper level ranks?
How does the expenditure to manage our Council compare to other Councils with similar demographics?
It would be interesting to find out the population-to-staff ratio or something like that. Although I wonder how useful it would be when different councils have such different needs, eg. Mid Murray and Coorong having a million miles of road to maintain, Karoonda a tiny population etc. Perhaps it would be better to compare against other regional cities? (Not that there are many in SA.)
I am alarmed that we have the highest rate in the dollar. I see it only as a money grabbing for Council to maintain the large work force it seems to need without any transparency and accountability.
Sadly it's simply a scam against the community. With all the sub divisions of land, new houses bring built, so much extra revenue for councils, but sadly no accountability to where this extra money goes, and with the rate in the dollar being so much higher than most other councils throughout SA, something needs to be done, it's simply wrong that the community are rorted to pay huge councils rates compared to anywhere else in SA. The Murray Bridge council needs to be investigated externally to seek answers as to what's really going on? Proper independent accountability is needed. The community needs to stand united against such high rates compared to any other SA areas.
In fairness, there is some accountability – the public can look right through the council's budget each year and make suggestions about how to change it before it's finalised. And councillors are elected to keep an eye on the staff. But you're right about rates being high – the last time I checked, about five years ago (https://murrayvalleystandard.com.au/news/2018/10/09/we-rate-your-property-rates/), Murray Bridge was top 10 for charging the highest rate in the dollar in SA. I'd like to redo that work and see how we measure up now...
Time for an administrator imo