Councillor Peter Ristevski says Liverpool Council needs to tighten its belt after being declared “not fit for the future’’ by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
And he wants savings to start in the offices of the mayor and the CEO by eliminating all present positions except a personal assistant for each role.
Cr Ristevski says saving gained by getting rid of these positions should be diverted to the legal challenge against the Moorebank Recyclers.
“We councillors should ensure there is enough money in the budget to fight this properly and not half heartedly,’’ says Cr Ristevski.
But he also wants to ensure that any plans in the future to create new positions in the mayor’s and CEO’s offices are approved by the whole council beforehand.
Cr Ristevski says he plans to seek the support of the council to make these changes at the next council meeting, scheduled for this Wednesday night, October 28.
He has already tabled a notice of motion to that effect.
“If you look at Fairfield Council in comparison to us, they owe about $1m. We owe over $40m,’’ says Cr Ristevski of Liverpool’s debt level.
“Their mayor/councillors don’t have a specific media advisor and two research staff like us.
“It’s shameful to be spending ratepayers’ money on such things especially since it costs ratepayers over $500,000 in all on-costs.
“We have been labelled as unfit for the future yet we see ourselves as fit to spend ratepayers on outlandish PR exercises,’’ Cr Ristevski said.
“Bankstown, a neighbouring council, determined by IPART to be Fit For The Future, don’t have mayor/councillor media advisors or research staff.
“I personally don’t need a media adviser as my advisers are our ratepayers. Anyone that needs such a person should open their own wallet and pay for it themselves.
“This money should be spent on front line services, especially since the NRMA labelled our roads the worst in the south west.’’
Cr Ristevski said that at a time when council staff morale was at an “all time low’’ and with industrial disputes costing ratepayers massive amounts in lost productivity and legal fees, councillors needed to lead by example.
“It was only a few council meetings ago that certain councillors wanted to make our cleaning staff redundant because it was costing too much,’’ he said.
“Yet we see it as OK to spend over $500,000 on fat cat advisers.
“It’s wrong on so many levels and staff/ratepayers should not have to tolerate such fiscal irresponsibility in these lean economic times.
“I am constantly getting requests from the community about upgrading our sporting fields and roads.
“I’m tired of saying we don’t have it in our budget.’’
Cr Ristevski said just recently Liverpool Council spent hundreds of thousands of ratepayers’ dollars on a PR exercise to change its logo.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“How could we be so fiscally irresponsible in these times when we knew that IPART was looking at Liverpool as being unfit for the future and with merger talks now more likely to occur,’’ he said.[/social_quote]
“This new logo could now become redundant.
“We should be more responsible with other people’s money as we are custodians of ratepayer funds.
“As councillors we have a fiduciary duty to our ratepayers to ensure that their money is spent in the most efficient way without waste,’’ Cr Ristevski said.
Is this the price he has to pay for wanting Liverpool to be run properly? Keep up the good work Cr Ristevski.