Independent Mayoral candidate for Maitland Philip Penfold has slammed Labor's plan to drop the Special Rate Variation if she's elected into the top job.
Mayoral candidate Loretta Baker has promised to put forward a proposal which will see household rates drop by around $100 a year, but there are fears that could lead to job cuts and a huge loss in funding accumulating to around $10 million dollars over the next council term.
Philip Penfold said it's easy to come and say it now to get some community support, but in the end the plan simply isn't going to work.
"It's very easy to come out and make political statements about rate cuts but show us your calculations, show us who is going to lose their job, show us which roads are not going to be repaired so you can justify why you have a reversal of your decision you moved two months ago."
The decision the mayoral candidate has reportedly flipped on was moved two months ago as the adoption of the Statement of Rating Structure which was stated as:
Council adopt the Statement of Rating Structure, as identified in the Operational Plan 2017/18 (which includes a general rate increase of 7.25%);
Philip Penfold believes if Loretta Baker's plan goes through there will have to be job cuts and a loss of funds to projects because council won't be able to afford it.
"For a lot of the council's expenses they are state government expenses the cost of the street, the cost of the waste levy the Labor party introduced. So it's expensive for council and its expensive for the community and it's important for a council to balance out the wishes and needs of the community and what those costs will be," said Philip Penfold.
"All Councillors I'm sure are open to adjustments in rates but any candidate needs to put forward what is their proposed cut then, if you're going to cut the income please explain where this $10 million dollar shortfall is going to come from and how you are going to account for it."
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| Mayoral Candidate Phillip Penfold and his team Image Philip Penfold Twitter |
