Council employee numbers. It seems the bigger they get the more we pay and the less we get…. Is it time we shrank our council?
The community is getting fed up with the services we aren’t getting from our council (eg Rubbish collection) and the insane programs that they are forcing upon our community (eg Bike Lanes that are unnecessary or poorly designed) as well as the degeneration and safety of our streets. (Eg Acland Street, Fitzroy Street, Clarendon Street). Not forgetting the removal of car parking, our dying iconic palm trees that Council seems to be doing nothing about, the street sleepers, the drug pushers and wasteful spending on consultants and pet projects.
It seems that the bigger they are the worse they get and Councillors seem powerless or unwilling to do anything about finding efficiencies and cutting wasteful spending. Our senior citizens can remember when our council was much loved by the community - because they simply delivered on their core services. Days back when the council actually did the work themselves instead of paying outsiders to do the work. Whereas today they seem to be hopeless at delivering, no matter how many more public servants are employed. When you think about it, our council geographic boundaries haven’t changed since June 1994 when the Cities of St Kilda, South Melbourne and Port Melbourne were amalgamated. The merger was meant to deliver efficiencies, but rates were affordable, and our councils were more efficient in the good old days.
For example, Council spends a lot of time and money on preparing policy documents that seem to exist solely for the purpose of justifying jobs at the town hall. Council allocated millions of dollars to produce glossy reports and to seek feedback from residents. Too many policy documents merely report and monitor statistics and just sit on the shelf.
Our Council administration staff almost 900 of them, seem to be spend a hell of a lot of time outsourcing, report writing and outsourcing work to consultants that can be done and should be done in-house . With so many staff on board and all outsiders doing their work, they are most likely simply BORED out of their brains with nothing to do. Nothing to do but think up ways to secure their high paying jobs by coming up with money wasting ideas that we all pay for like social and affordable housing (which is a Victorian Government responsibility); bike lanes that remove car parking, destroy businesses and cause traffic congestion; massive handouts for the arts, culture and festivals, and construction of the Eco Centre )($6M).
Is it time we shrank our council? Is it time we went back to basics and demanded core services are delivered directly by council workers and not outside consultants? Let’s try cutting our council by 20%, that's 180 highly paid staff, and see what can be delivered. Focus on core services and deliver what the community deserves. We’ve done it before, so why can’t we do it now?
Editor's note: RoPP believes Port Phillip Council has a role in influencing state and federal governments and advocating for social and affordable housing, welfare for the vulnerable, and net zero carbon dioxide emissions. But RoPP does not support the endless spending of scarce council funds when other key council responsibilities are inadequately funded. If CoPP spent every cent of its budget on these non essential areas, it still would barely make a difference and importantly, these matters are state and federal responsibilities. Wouldn’t it be nice to halve the time it takes to get a planning permit? Wouldn’t it be nice to plant more trees and address stormwater issues in low lying suburbs? If money were not diverted to state and federal responsibilities, Council would be able to properly fund these integral responsibilities.
