Deputy mayor backs comments
DEPUTY Mayor Carol Taylor has explained why she took aim at fellow councillor Nancy Sommerfield in a Facebook post, saying she found some of her comments about the latest budget “disappointing”.
The saga, which neither party said has caused a “rift” within the council, began on Tuesday when Cr Sommerfield said she wanted to see more funding for repairing and renewing ageing infrastructure in next year’s budget.
The current budget has set asset renewal at 73 per cent of depreciation, something Cr Sommerfield told The Chronicle she wanted increased to 90 per cent from next year.
Cr Taylor took to Facebook on Wednesday in response to the article, arguing no councillor should be “pushing personal opinions or political agendas”.
The deputy mayor has since defended her comments, saying she wanted all councillors to work together once the budget was announced.
The Facebook post is selfexplanatory. None of us ever get (exactly) what we want, but it’s council’s budget and... the community expects us to be working as a team,” she said.
“I knew it was my public page and I’m disappointed that Cr Sommerfield feels the need to come out and say things like that (after the budget).
“I think (her comments were) little bit disappointing, but that’s just my opinion.”
Cr Taylor said the conversation had highlighted local governments’ need for stable, uncontested funding.
“The mayor (Paul Antonio) has been saying it for a while, so there needs to be a better funding model for councils.”