Newcastle Councillors pay rise or no pay rise?

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Newcastle Councillors will tonight debate on whether or not to give themselves a pay rise.

They will decide on a 16 per cent pay rise.

Independent Councillors Kath Elliott, John Church, Allan Robinson and Andrea Rufo put forward a rescission motion saying a 16 per cent pay rise for Councillors and a 24 per cent increase in the Lord Mayor's allowance is "inappropriate" when "council is continuing to burden ratepayers with a consecutive 8% Special Rate Variation increases, supposedly to address its financial challenges".

Before last year's council elections, council voted against a pay rise, even though the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal allowed councils to take a 16 per cent increase if they wanted it.

"It's perplexing as to why it was bought to us again at the end of the year. I don't know what changed. But certainly there was no pay rise going to be granted in June and then we had this turnaround from Labor and voted for it after the election so one has to be a little skeptical about why that was," said Kath Elliott.

She also said, "I don't think it's appropriate for us to be given such a large pay rise when there are people paying high rates, people in the community who can't get a large pay rise. It's out of step with community expectations so I'm hoping Labor votes against it too."

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes. Image dailytelegraph.com.au

"I Fear Politics May Have Played a Part": Councilor Penfold

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The decision by Maitland City Council to vote against investigating two proposals is being questioned by Independent Councillor Philip Penfold.

Councillor Penfold put forward two motions, one being to look into re-fitting the front section of the Walka Water Works pumphouse building to make way for a cafe and toilets and the other idea to investigate a multi level car park in Maitland's CBD.

Deputy Mayor Sally Halliday as well as the other Independent councillors voted for the motions, but Mayor Loretta Baker and others voted no.

"I was disappointed to see that they weren't supported by the mayor and a slim majority of council. I think they're very important to the people of Maitland, they want to have the ability to sit and relax and to eat at the beautiful Walka Water Works. They want to opportunity park conveniently near The Levee that we've just spent $10 million on," said Councillor Penfold.

Proposed site for Maitland car park Image Councillor Philip Penfold Facebook.

He says he didn't agree with the reasons they gave against the motions.

"To be honest I fear politics may have played a part,"

"There was some suggestion that if a cafe is not going to make a motser then it shouldn't be built."

"People didn't like to, for some reason have multi story considered. There seemed to be a strong view that purely single story is what should be considered for Maitland's CBD. I find that odd, Maitland is growing at a very rapid rate. Maitland and the CBD is proving very popular," said Councillor Penfold.

Councillor Penfold says the motions have a lot of support from the local community which he has seen online and head from in-person.

A petition for more parking in the CBD received 529 signatures from the community who agreed there was a lack of parking for business owners, staff and customers.

"It's not rocket science to see that in the future multi story car parking will be requires, people want convenience and the site I spoke of was less than a block away from the Levee," said Councillor Penfold.

Maitland Independent Mayoral candidate wants to breathe new life into Walka Water Works

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Maitland Independent Mayoral Candidate Philip Penfold is planning to breathe new life into Walka Water Works should he be elected on September 9.

He wants to see council put together a DA and approach the state government for funding to refit the cafe and re-open the small museum which once operated on the site.

"Walka Water Works is a fantastic asset to the city of Maitland, though unfortunately the pump house has been let go for far too long. So my proposal is for council to prepare plans, costings and a DA to have a project shovel ready to convert part of it into a cafe."

Philip Penfold says the site is already heavily used by the people of Maitland - there's a park run every Saturday and it's teeming with families on the weekend so having the appropriate amenities in place would only be of benefit.

"I think families will greatly enjoy a cafe or restaurant out there on Walka Water Works for the people of Maitland."

Walka Water Works Image David Threlfo Twitter
@David_Threlfo

Independents slam Labor's Special Rate Rise plan for Maitland

BY JESSICA ROUSE

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."

Mayoral Candidate Phillip Penfold and his team Image Philip Penfold Twitter

The race for Mayor of Maitland is officially on

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Local council elections are just one month away and Maitland has officially chosen their candidates for Mayor.

Among the candidates is John Brown for the Greens, Loretta Baker for Country Labor, Bob Geoghegan for Liberal and three independents Brian Burke, Ken Wethered and Phillip Penfold.

Mayoral candidate Phillip Penfold says he's confident, but there is some great competition.

"We've got six good people put their hand up to speak to be that civic leader for Maitland. I'm not taking this for granted, but my team of candidates and my supporters are going to work very hard over the next month to give our policies, give our positions and give people are fair choice moving forward."

Liberal are promising they'll get back to basics in Maitland and their Mayoral candidate Bob Geoghegan says he'll focus on rates, roads and rubbish.

"Council always has to focus on the main functions of council which are roads, rates and rubbish with the roads in Maitland there are certainly issues with roads, with regards to rates I think we have to always be very conscious of keeping the cost of living down particularly in this era of high electricity prices."

With current Mayor Peter Blackmore retiring from the top job at the upcoming election, the job is anybody's game.