A Dubbo councillor has vowed she will never send a cent to the Dubbo City Development Corporation until there has been a “full investigation into the accountability and transparency” of its funding.
Councillor Tina Reynolds is one of three councillors seeking to overturn a council decision to fund the corporation on a six-month basis to the tune of $130,000.
Dubbo mayor Allan Smith is still hopeful the solution put forward at Monday night’s council meeting will prevail when it comes to an extraordinary meeting of the council.
The meeting has been set down for Friday afternoon, and Cr Reynolds says she is unable to attend.
On Monday night eight councillors supported a motion that would allow the council to enter into a six-month contract with the corporation, formerly known as Grow Dubbo, for the provision of economic development services at a contract fee of $130,000.
The corporation has so far been unfunded this financial year.
The council stopped the flow of city money to the Grow Dubbo office when it made the decision to defer questions about the legality of its funding relationship with the corporation to the NSW Government for direction. The result of that Government investigation has forced the council to change the way it views and funds an external organisation, but some councillors are not satisfied that the measures go far enough.
“I as a councillor am looking after ratepayer money, and I can’t support this until there has been a full investigation into the accountability and transparency of (the use of) ratepayer funds,” Cr Reynolds said.
When asked if the rescission motion, countersigned by councillors Ben Shields and Ann Barnard, was worthwhile, Cr Reynolds maintained it was.
It would “give councillors the opportunity” to have a “further, thorough look” at the use of ratepayer funds.
“We may lose the vote, they may get funding, but I won’t be contributing,” Cr Reynolds said.
She also called for the people of Dubbo to show their voice.
“The Dubbo community needs to have a bigger interest in what’s happening with ratepayer money, they need to have a voice,” she said.
If Monday’s council meeting is an indication, the corporation will receive the council cheque.
Cr Smith said the rescission motion was disappointing after a clear decision came from the council.
“Dubbo needs economic development, the longer we stall on this, the more it reflects on councillors, all of us,” he said.
Cr Smith attributed the majority vote to the report that came back to councillors after a workshop last month.
That report included an alternative option for the interim period, legal advice about whether the council had a controlling interest in the corporation and a letter from the corporation chairman stating it was not the board’s intention to use council funding to support legal actions against the council or councillors.
When asked if he thought the letter from the corporation had been the deciding factor, Cr Smith said it was only part of all the information gathered and that as a whole it made councillors comfortable in making the decision.
faye.wheeler@ruralpre ss.com
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