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Water and Sewerage in Captains Flat

Letter from the Captains Flat Community Association's President to the General Manager Palerang Council.

Email to Palerang Councillors:

Subject: Draft Sewerage and Water Pricing Policies for Captains Flat

Dear Councillors

It has been suggested to me that the explanation for the proposed huge increases in water and sewerage charges in Captains Flat is included in the Draft Sewerage and Water Pricing Policies.

This is not the case.

Both documents record recent massive increases in Operation Expenses in the last three years (2004-5 to 2006-7) and project further increases in 2007-8, but not thereafter. No explanation is given for these increases which probably account for the whole of the proposed increases in charges to residents. Council, and the documents, should be explaining why the operating costs of the schemes have increased so much, and why Council is unable to control these increases.

The Captains Flat community was not aware these policies were being developed, was not consulted in their development, and was not well-informed that they had been released (I recall seeing an announcement in the local media, but nothing to suggest how important they are) they should have been the subject of a direct mail-out, at least to the Association or the local newsletter (if Palerang wants to outsource its communication with its residents), and nor has there been a public consultation meeting after the drafts were released. While this is the level of community input we traditionally expect from Council, I had hoped we had moved on from the “bad old days”.

The recommendations of the draft Policies are already incorporated into the Draft Management Plan, which again says something about the genuineness of the consultative process, given that the Draft Policies and the DMP were released almost simultaneously. The Draft Policies smell very strongly of fait accompli. Council will vote on the DMP on Thursday, yet the Draft Policies will not yet have been adopted. Go figure.

If Palerang Council and Councillors have any regard for the Captains Flat community, the proposed increases MUST be deferred until they can be properly discussed with and/or explained to the local community. As they represent a 20-year plan, the risks associated with deferring them by a year are minimal.

Peter Marshall
President, Captains Flat Community Association

27 June 2007