Mt Gambier City Council 'Budget Consultation' - Conclusion

You and I...just like two lost souls, swimming in a fishbowl, year after year...running over the same old ground...and how we found the same old fears*...and so it is with this post because so it is with Council's behaviour...running over the same old ground...(*Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here)

There is no polite way of describing just how disingenuous Council has been with this alleged 'Consultation Process' (well, that's not a bad start-Ed)...because there are only so many ways to describe liars, bullies, thugs, and screaming incompetents...(yeah, you're starting to drift-Ed)...and this Council's deceitful, selfish and corrupt behaviour has bent Mt Gambier right over a barrel and f(yeah, I knew it was too good to last-Ed)

(And you can't say 'corrupt' remember because Council will have a little hissy-fit the same way lawyer Bill DeGaris, Piper Alderman Lawyers, and the Education Department did, and try and have this post pulled-Ed)

I disagree...have Council followed an appropriate process of consultation?...(well...yes-Ed)...slow down...have they done the consultation and then acted on it in a way that reflects the public opinion that Council claims is their guiding influence...(well...again, yes...least ways, that's what it says in The Border Watch-Ed)...mmm, indeed...

At this juncture I would ask that readers review my previous posts re this 'Consultation Process' and the extraordinary conduct Council, eg, of Mayor Steve Perryman and Councillor Ian Von Stanke...(oh, right...yes... well...when you put it like that...I take your point that this was not an objective process genuinely founded in and/or on a construct of respect and honest intent...rather it is a disingenuous performance of legislative necessity underwritten with malice and greed-Ed)...whaaaa?...

I had wanted to conclude this sorry saga in one post, but because there is so much to address in the way Council has sought to manipulate this 'Consultation Process' it may take several.

This post I will focus on the specific threats, bullying and intimidation contained in the attached articles. The repeated very specific, then veiled, and then once again very specific threats to cut back on other services if Mt Gambier ratepayers don't knuckle under and let Council do whatever it wants with increased borrowings and massive rate rises....(may I?-Ed)...certainly...(bastards-Ed)...right on.

Council has tip-toed around the issue before, but they trod right in it when the first, outright threat comes from the Mayor Steve Perryman in his 'Letter to the Editor' in The Border Watch Wednesday 29th May 2013..."...or we can look at council's operational budget and reduce the level of financial and in-kind contributions provided to the community...Perhaps council needs to examine other budget areas...or, as I advocate, we can get on with the job as detailed in the draft budget..."

This was then subtly repeated in the little TBW 'column' titled 'City of Mt Gambier - Weekly Affairs' page 5, Wednesday 5th June 2013, that again lists the things Council spends ratepayers money on, and tries to compare $1million for maintenance of 'Parks and Gardens' to the $2.5million per annum running costs for the Library and Main Corner.

And then again a blatant threat in Graham Greenwood's latest effort on behalf of Council, TBW Friday 7th June 2013..."....and raises the question just what are people prepared to go without to achieve a lower rate increase?...Suggestions are that a drop to 6.4 % is achievable but would mean a cut of about $80,000 from other areas of the budget."

This agenda to threaten other services has been repeatedly underscored with threats to 'shelve' projects like the Old Hospital and Rail Lands, threats to 'hand-back' the $1million mysteriously 'given' to Council by the State government last year, and threats that 'if we don't borrow now while it's cheap, it will cost more to do so later...probaly'...threats, fear-mongering, manipulation, and deceit... can I call that corrupt?...(yeah, go on...why not...you've proved your point-Ed)...

This latest effort by Graham 'From Greg Muller's Desk' Greenwood (07/06/2013) is such a definitive and gross piece of vile Council propaganda and manipulation that it gets it's very own post...

Tomorrow: Graham Greenwood's Article 07/06/13 in The Border Watch.

From Greg Muller's pen to your eyes via Graham Greenwood...and where's Robert 'He Ought To Be Shot' Miles when you need him...(ooo, subtle...but true...that is exactly what he said about "...that bloke writing from his front porch..." at the Consultation meeting...twice...in front of a room full of people...many of whom physically recoiled from the comments...not Councillors though...they joined in, with Byron Harfield and Steve Perryman stating that they had "...had tea on that porch..." and had "...tried to talk to him..."-Ed)

 
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...