Howdy dear availees right across The Third Rock, welcome to a largely revisionary post about the FARC (Farcical Aquatic Recreation Centre), but one that also predictably predicts what this means for the future of Mt Gambier...(well even 'revision' is at least looking at something, and with Mt Gambier City Council's history of deceit and mismanagement, a history that now defines their handling of this project, 'revision' is about credibility and even not repeating historic mistakes-Ed)...indeed, Ed, there's heaps of reasons to look at what's already transpired so as to predict and avoid and/or be prepared for what's to come...it's also a tangential reminder to oneself...(and anyone else whom gives half a damn-Ed)....yeah, a reminder of that old idiom, Think Globally, Act Locally...(yeah, 'cos what's happening in Mt Gambier is fundamentally irrelevant to what's happening on the rest of The Rock, and for example, the $70million+ that's already been poured into the FARC is a global pittance-Ed)...yep, but it's gunna' dominate locals lives for decades to come...
I refer dear availees to Council's various Budget documents as available on their website...years ago I used to drive myself to distraction by trying to nail-down the sort of rubbery figures that Council produced for their various Budgets/Plans/Strategies/whatevs, but I quickly gave it away as an exercise in infuriating futility...basically, I didn't trust the original numbers 'cos I didn't trust the clowns providing them, and ultimately, there were likely to be numerous changes, eg, 'Quarterly Reviews'...it was entirely pointless...(what's your point-Ed)...well now I'm going back to those same if more recent documents and associated figures, as prepared/presented by the exact same clown posse...(ahhh, and trying to quote them as being proof of what you're saying-Ed)...exactly...(that is indeed some sortta' conundrumy paradox-Ed)...and it gets worse...(oh dear-Ed)...'cos then I gotta' try and pin down the lies about "no Rates increases" to pay for the FARC...(is that the weasel-word stuff where-in Council has carefully said 'related to the construction', but doesn't include the running/maintenance there-of?-Ed)...yeah, it's like trying to pin-down a greasy pig...
Now call me a jaded ol' cynic...(you jaded ol' realist-Ed)...what?...(well you know the ol' sayin', "A Cynic is what an Optimist calls a Realist"-Ed)...fair point, but my point is that this stuff appears to be deliberately vague and self-repeating such as to potentially confuse and/or deny...(please explain-Ed)...well in the section from the 2020/21 Budget, it states "$37.8 m for the delivery of services, identifies a certain amount for the FARC, then includes other programs and/or the maintenance of assets, etc...(so?-Ed)...well it's classic 'Politician Talk' for answering a question but then distracting from the truth you've just identified by tacking-on other issues/costs...(so where that 2020/21 statement says that Council has budgeted to spend about $26.8m for the FARC, they then try to dilute that by repeating the previously stated issues/costs?-Ed)...exactly, but if you compare the annual Budget 'costs' of approx $10m 'Capital Expenditure', the Budget papers appear to have Council spending far more on the FARC than they are prepared to admit...
I find it impossible to believe that the huge 'Debt Load' that Council is saddling Ratepayers with re the FARC is somehow going to magically resolve itself, that money has to come from somewhere...(and Ratepayers is it, unless there's more 'pork-barrelling funds' coming from the Federal and/or State Liberals-Ed)...well that's another issue, as covered below...what exactly is Mayor Martin referring to when she cites "additional funding"?...(yes, I note where there is reference to "additional funding" by Mayor Lynette 'In Da' House' Martin in the 2021/22 Summary, thusly-Ed)...***
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The 2021/ 2022 ABP&B shows a budgeted net surplus of $17.67 million. This includes budgeted amounts received for new assets of $18.36 million related to State, Federal and additional funding for the construction of the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre. The operating result for the 2021/2022 ABP&B provides for an operating deficit as at 30 June 2022 of $0.572 million as a result of COVID-19 initiatives undertaken during 2020.
***Now I don't know specifically what "additional funding" she's referring to here...(well, perhaps it's the coupla $100,000s that Grant District Council chucked, in, but why not just identify as such-Ed)...good point...(and that was already used in 2020/21 I reckon-Ed)...probably...(but I have heard rumours/allegations that the Marshall (Liberal) State Government has very quietly given MGCC more money for the FARC, but have deliberately kept it quiet 'cos of the gross embarrassment of being further associated with this debasco (debacle/fiasco) wholly Liberal Party project-Ed)...indeed, and given that the original $10m State grant was apparently already used in the 2020/21 Budget, is this "additional funding" a very sly admission from MGCC?...(maybe this refers to those other rumours/allegations that Council is once again fudging the real numbers on one of their farcically blown-out projects, eg, the Library, the Main Corner, the Rail Lands, etc, etc, by syphoning-off monies/funding from other Budget areas without identifying that's what they're doing?-Ed)...hey, gourd knows mate, maybe they've received other funding and 're-alocated' it thusly, nuthin' would surprise me...you see what I mean about trying to establish the reality/truth via these vague statements and dodgy/rubbery figures...(strewth! I sure do-Ed)...
Anyhoos, I've tried to crunch the numbers best I can using MGCC's own Budget documents...(well that was your first mistake-Ed)...indeed...so here's the numbers and the links for y'all to dissect and/or collate for y'allselves...(it's another case of hoping we're horribly wrong about this, 'cos the apparent reality/truth is gunna' be fiscally freakin' burdensome for Ratepayers-Ed)...indeed...as identified, the following figures are cut-'n'-pasted directly from Council's website, and can be checked there-in...***
Budget 2019/2020
The budget outlines a total spend of $32.4 million in operating expenditure, depreciation of $7.3 million and total capital expenditure of $10.5 million for the delivery of services, programs and the maintenance of assets. This includes $2.6 million towards the first stage of the Mount Gambier Community and Recreation Hub project and development of new and upgraded assets, operating and capital expenditure.
***...so, $2.6m allegedly on the FARC, whatevs...(well one assumes that was the vast cost of the relentlessly one-side pro-FARC promoting and advertising, renting that Main St shopfront, payrolling that deceitful, manipulative pro-FARC 'Vote', etc, etc-Ed)...yeah, probably, plus Planning Application costs, etc...but then in 2020/21 Budget papers, things get a bit freaky FARC wise, thusly...here's the link...***
https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/news/council-adopts-2020-2021-business-plan-and-budget
Council adopts 2020/2021 Budget
25 June 2020
25 June 2020
Following community consultation the City of Mount Gambier 2020/2021 Annual Business Plan and Budget was adopted at a Special Council Meeting held on Tuesday 23 June 2020.
The budget outlines a total spend of $33.4 million in operating expenditure, depreciation of $7.5 million and total capital expenditure of $37.8 million for the delivery of services, programs and the maintenance of assets. This includes $26.8 million towards the development of the Community and Recreation Hub project and new and upgraded assets, operating and capital expenditure.
***...and then in another place, link attached, it says this...***
https://cdn.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/docs/2020-2021-Annual-Business-Plan-Budget.pdf
Budget 2020/2021
Page 3 of 18
OVERVIEW
Our 2020/21 Annual Business Plan and Budget (ABP&B) is an important part of Council’s suite of Strategic Management Plans and Integrated Planning and Budgeting Framework. It aligns with our:
• Draft 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and its strategies, initiatives and projects
• Long Term Financial Plan
• the Asset Management Plans
ensuring that we optimise the mix of services, programs, infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of our Community. The 2020/21 budget provides for:
• $37.8 million in capital expenditure projects, $11.0 million is drawn from the Council’s detailed Asset Management Plans and $26.8 million from the Community and Recreation Hub project co-funded with $15 million from Commonwealth and $10 million from State grant funding;
• $1.593 million operating deficit as at 30 June 2021 before Community and Recreation Hub funding;
• $10.819 million net surplus after funding for Community and Recreation Hub funding; and
• Overall rate revenue will be fixed at 2019/20 levels in line with Our City. Our Response COVID-19strategy, with only the growth benefit inclusion to rates included.
***...so that's clearly saying $26.8 on the FARC...and that would appear to be the $15m Federal grant and $10m State grant...then we move to the current Financial Year...***
Budget 2021/22
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OVERVIEW
The City of Mount Gambier ABP&B is an important part of Council’s suite of strategic management plans and integrated planning and budgeting framework. It aligns with:
• The 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and its strategies, initiatives and projects,
• Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP), and
• The Infrastructure and Asset Management Plans (IAMPs) to ensure that Council optimises the mix of services, programs, infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of the local community. The draft 2021/2022 budget provides for:
• $55.8 million in capital expenditure projects. $10.6 million is drawn from the Council’s detailed Asset Management Plans and $45.2 million from the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre project co-funded with Commonwealth and State grant funding,
• $0.572 million operating deficit as at 30 June 2021 before the Wulanda Recreation and
Convention Centre funding,
• $17.67 million net surplus after funding for the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre.
(But hang on a second, your saying that Council has spent $2.6m in 2019/20, then $26.8m in 2020/21, and are spending $45.2m this year, 2121/22?-Ed)...well, unless I've completely misread Council's own figures from their own documents, no, I'm not saying that, Council's saying that...(fair enough, but the last I saw and heard, Council is still stating quite specifically that this is a, quote, "$57m project"-Ed)...yep, indeed they have been...(and that despite the fact that it was exposed more than a year ago, via The Advertiser newspaper, that it was actually, and I quote again, a "$64m project"-Ed)...yeah yeah...(but these numbers from Council's website add-up to, ummm, $74.6m...have I got that right?-Ed)...well you've got the math correct, that's certainly what it looks like...going by these Budget numbers, it appears that the FARC is going to be a minimum $75m, from a starting point of $39.1m...(what happened to all those hilarious japesters who predicted that Council would screw this up like everything else they have ever done, and that it would blow-out by easily 100%?-Ed)...well those japesters have been proven right, haven't they...(yay-Ed)...
Yep, looking like at least $75m, and gourd knows how much more...(and where's all that money coming from? what's the "Federal and State grant funding" referred to?-Ed)...well quite, what does that refer to?...(does this relate to the original $25m combined grants, as used in the 2020/21 Budget, or is it some new 'funding' not specifically identified that we ain't heard about?-Ed)...exactly Ed, 'cos what I reckon is that it's a deliberate attempt to try and minimise the admission of "$46.2m" by trying to infer that that includes that original and already spent $25m , thusly reducing the appearance of Council's outrageous borrowings/expenditure...(strewth!-Ed)...
So there you's go...I've tried my level damndest to trawl through all this dross and accurately and responsibly present what I genuinely believe to be the reality/truth...(and all the whilst hoping to be wrong-Ed)...pretty much...and that's just getting the damn thing built, we are yet to deal with the farcical 'privatisation' of the FARC and what that will cost Ratepayers...
Tomorrow: Multiple MGCC Corruptionings/Incompetence
'Cos when y'all start to look at MGCC's alleged functionings, one very quickly identifies a pattern of highly profitable and likely quite deliberate dysfunction...(well, profitable if you're one of Council's family or close mates, etc-Ed)...well indeed, that's exactly what I'm saying...supposed dysfunction and incompetence that coincidentally, miraculously always seems to profit Councillors and/or their mates/supporters...(doesn't sound like much of a coincidence to me-Ed)...mate! that's exactly what I'm saying...special Conditions/Protections and/or Tenders and/or Insider Trading, etc, for Councillors families/mates, and everyone else gets either Sweet Shreck All, or straight-out attacked and belittled and ripped-off, etc...(like what The Tuck Shop has been allowed to do, repeatedly, as compared to Council's appalling conduct regarding the Turners at the Aquifer Tours/Cafe-Ed)...exactly like Council's appalling conduct in shutting-down Mt Gambier's premier Tourism experience...(and then trying to justify that with provable lies-Ed)....all 'cos Council hates the Turners...
And one week after posting about MGCC's definable mate-protecting corruption regarding the 'Unlicensed' and therefore 'Illegal' function held at The Tuck Shop, I ain't heard diddly-squat from no-one...(you were expecting to?-Ed)...well not from MGCC, no, they're obviously protecting their mate, but I was prepared for some more anonymous abuse and/or perhaps some vacuous legal threats...(as per usual when you hit that very raw nerve known as The Truth-Ed)...exactly...and when one looks at MGCC's plans to 'privatise' the running of the FARC, it absolutely reeks of this sort of orchestrated maladministration and incompetence...(well they built the damn thing without an actual Business Plan, so why not have someone else run it for them, without a plan...how could that possibly go wrong for Ratepayers?-Ed)...mate, let me count the ways...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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