Williams defends charges

THE Toowoomba Regional Council’s finance guru has moved to slap down a “myth” about the organisation’s water access charge increase, saying it was never to just pay off the Wivenhoe pipeline.

TRC finance and business strategy chair Cr Mike Williams raised the issue in the council’s ordinary meeting last month, following comments by the public over the decision to double the charge more than 10 years ago.

The council increased the fixed charge in 2009 to about $600 a year, with then-water services portfolio leader Cr Paul Antonio putting the reason down to the decision to build the $60 million pipeline between Wivenhoe Dam and Cressbrook Dam. Several TRC candidates for the March election, including former Toowoomba North MP Kerry Shine, have commented on reducing the charge.

Cr Williams said not only was the charge hike never specifically to pay off the pipeline, but the council had been instructed to increase it by the State Treasury.

“The misconception is that it was brought in purely to pay for the pipeline, when it wasn’t,” he said after the meeting,” he said.

“It’s like an urban myth that’s been resonating through the community — the access fee was not about Wivenhoe, it was about maintaining the system.

“When we went to the pipeline, the Queensland Treasury said we weren’t recovering enough from our water, and the general rate was subsidising the water rate.

“They said it wasn’t sustainable, so at the time it did add to our overall costs, but it was more that if we wanted to keep reinvesting in our ageing infrastructure, we had to put the price of water up.”

Cr Williams said the council was partially to blame for not properly explaining the increase to the public.

“The message we should’ve put out there is that the overall system, in the long term, needed the increased funding,” he said.

“I don’t think we were as clear as we could have been to convey the message that we inherited old and ageing infrastructure that needed renewal.

“If you look at the monthly water report, you’ll see an average 10 per cent water loss in the system, which was higher in many cases, and that’s caused by old and leaking pipes.

“We’re playing catch-up, and we can’t allow this infrastructure to break down.”

Cr Williams also pointed out the increase couldn’t be used specifically to pay off the loan required to cover the pipeline, as the council made a regular repayment to the Queensland Treasury for a variety of loans.