Vote with care

Baw Baw shire citizens beware of how you vote in this election. People are not always what they appear to be. As we have found out with the previous council who left the Baw Baw shire with financial problems.

In the past four years there have been many letters to the Gazette expressing concern about the shire’s spending, lack of investments and road infrastructure and services.

The present council is in a better position today because of the huge nine per cent rate rise at the start of their term. Along with a mixture of revenue raising methods, again from the ratepayers and not once was there a mention of meaningful cost cutting measures, like staff reductions. The council staff recommended these revenue raising methods which these councillors appear to readily approved.

The Gazette headlines February 24, 2015 jobs slashed ‘shire redundancy plans’. Nett result months later, two less employees, I suppose it was better than none.

Another headline: $3.4 million refurbishment of Drouin office with savings of $250,000. When questioned, the CEO was able to find savings of no more than $150,000. Not one councillor took the CEO to task.

Another headline on November 18 council appointed committee says revenue spent on staff not on roads and now our most recent is a million dollars spent on a dog kennel. All dreamed up by staff and approved by council.

With regard to planning Baw Baw has a reputation of being the second worst in the state. I can only assume that these delays are costing job opportunities.

I’ve heard much about the secrecy surrounding decisions where even the councillors don’t know what’s going on. I and others applied to freedom of information and were told it was a waste of time. How right they were. but we’d still