However a lot of residents don’t know that rates amount to less than 30 per cent of Council’s income. The rest of the Council’s revenue comes either from fees and charges (things like Development Application costs, fines and even revenue from the pool entry fees) or from federal and state government grants.

One of the most important things an elected Council should be doing is making sure rate revenue remains a small part of the organisation’s total income. Attracting revenue from other sources instead of just rates is a challenge councillors must continually embrace.

For years, I have argued that the old Dubbo City Council failed in attracting extra grants and revenue from the state and federal governments. 

It didn’t matter whether it was building theatres, grandstands or even water infrastructure – during my 18 years on Council it seemed rates were put up every time we wanted to build something new.

In the last few elections I have campaigned vigorously for this attitude to stop. I have argued that we should be doing far more to attract grants - not only the usual grants that technocrats fill out paperwork for - but grants that elected mayors and councillors can grab by lobbying and negotiating with MPs, Ministers and Department Heads.  The facts are irrefutable. 

One only has to look at the cultural facilities built in other regional cites from government grant funding and then look at Dubbo where far too many of our recent additions has been funded by ratepayers - largely rate rises.

How you change the attitude of councillors from simply putting up rates to looking for other funding opportunities is as simple as exposing them to the world outside Dubbo. 

It’s for this reason I made the decision to allow all of the Dubbo Regional councillors to attend the Local Government NSW conference. For councillors to understand where the dollars are in government and where other councils find efficiencies can potentially gain millions of dollars in savings and extra funding. Six of the ten councillors have been able to attend this conference.

Having councillors mix and mingle with other councillors across the state enables them to be able to see what other areas are doing - and to see if their projects and expenses are on par with ours.  

As a councillor, when you go to an industry conference like this you speak one on one with hundreds of colleagues and government representatives.  All of which cannot be practically done via web streaming or a bureaucrats report. 

I can totally understand that there are residents of Dubbo who are confused about councillor’s travel, training and networking. 

However, I can assure residents that this is far from being a holiday.  It is essential communication and training that not only saves council money but enables the organisation to grow without yet again hitting ratepayers. 

In fact, going to Sydney and spending days indoors with other councillors is not what normal people would call a holiday. In fact, this council has been frugal. 

One of my first acts as Mayor was to cancel the annual Mayor’s Christmas Reception that cost around $10,000 (note this is not the volunteers or pensioners parties that were cancelled). Councillor Ryan even successfully moved to cease serving alcohol after council meetings.

I say Council needs to end old ways of being a closed shop where we only look at ourselves as key performance indicators. 

As Mayor I intend on leading a Council that seeks absolutely every opportunity to deliver efficiencies and cost savings while finding ways to generate income other than simply racking up rates above the usual inflation levels.  

I remain committed to doing things differently in the new Council.  Part of that is to be a “know how” city.