Mr Ross Earl, general manager of Bourke Shire Council, writes on events in the Far West of NSW.
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High water mark. I took the opportunity to visit the weir over the weekend and the water level was as high as I had seen it in my four years in Bourke. The current flow will also put a much-needed boost in the Menindee Lakes when it finally reaches that part of the river system.
Election information. Thirteen candidates have nominated for 10 positions on Bourke Shire Council in the September 10 election.
The elections are being conducted by the State Electoral Commission and all details in relation to the election are available on the website www.votensw.info. This includes arrangements for pre-poll and postal voting, the location of polling places and a list of candidates.
Revenue options. I attended the second day of the 2016 LGNSW Finance Summit in Sydney last week.
The keynote speaker was eminent Local Government finance expert, Dr Enid Slack, from Canada’s University of Toronto, who was engaged by LGNSW to prepare a paper about revenue options from a global perspective.
Key stakeholders were invited to respond.These included the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, NSW Farmers, the Sydney Business Chamber, the Property Council of Australia, the Urban Taskforce Australia, National Parks Association, community sector groups and the NSW Office of Local Government.
Together with the general manager from Lake Macquarie City Council and the director of corporate services of Blacktown City Council, I was asked to be part of a panel representing NSW councils to give my perspective on the revenue options available.
Given the other two councils have populations in excess of 300,000 and Bourke only having 3000, my presentation primarily focused on the issues being faced by councils in the west of the state.
While it took some time researching and preparing the paper the opportunity to have input to such an important forum was valuable and ensured the voice of smaller councils was able to be heard.
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