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APRIL 10 2011 Page 11 thesundaymail.com.au 11 NEWS thesundaymail.com.au SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Savings tough to measure NEW Local Government Min- ister Paul Lucas has admitted it will be ‘‘difficult’’ to pin down the cost savings of the state’s controversial council mergers three years after re- drawing the boundaries. Mr Lucas has been unable to define benchmarks to be used by the State Government to measure the success of the mergers and will not produce a cost-benefit analysis. But in an interview with The Sunday Mail on the third anniversary of the mergers, Mr Lucas said his observations left him in no doubt the changes were for the better. He believed opposition would disappear over time, as it had in Brisbane when 20 councils were folded into one more than 80 years ago. ‘‘I think the proof of it is by the services ratepayers get for their dollar,’’ Mr Lucas said. But former Labor MP and speaker Mike Reynolds said residents deserved a report on the outcomes before next year’s council elections. Kelmeny Fraser Millions spent on new look COUNCILS have spent more than $2 million on new signage, logos and uniforms since the amalgamations, but warn the job is far from over. Townsville City Council has one of the biggest bills, spend- ing $943,000 on rebranding. Other councils have spent far less, such as Central High- lands Regional Council with a bill of $50,000. A council spokesman said it had focused on changing over uniforms to achieve ‘‘one identity’’. Toowoomba Regional Council, formed after the merger of eight separate coun- cils, has spent $500,000 on new livery and signage. Sunshine Coast Regional Council has spent $60,000 on a community engagement program to develop a new brand, while a new logo de- sign, building and boundary signage has cost Western Downs Regional Council about $60,000. Kelmeny Fraser THE RECLINER WAREHOUSE Homemaker City, Aspley 3263 4169 & 26 Nicklin Way, Sunshine Coast 5478 4600 TAYLORS LAZBOY FURNITURE GALLERY Homemaker City, Jindalee 3376 8002 & 94 Upton St, Bundall 5592 3512 SE T A YLOR THE RECL Across the full range of La-Z-Boy ® Rocker Recliners GET THE 2ND CHAIR Half Price Buy One Chair GET THE 2ND CHAIR Half Price Buy One Chair PICK A PAIR Buy one La-Z-Boy chair & get the second HALF PRICE * R HURRY! Sale must end 4pm Today or while stocks last *Half price chair of equal or lesser value. Offer must end Sunday 10th April, 2011 or while stocks last. rate council a costly flop COUNCILS COMPARE VALUE FROM RATES Council Worse No change Better Moreton Bay 84.7% 12.7% 2.7% Rockhampton 84% 14% 2% Southern Downs 63.3% 34.7% 1.3% Sunshine Coast 44% 56% 0% Toowoomba 64% 28% 4.7% Townsville 20.7% 78% 1.3% TOTAL 60.1% 37.2% 2% Source: Market Facts (Qld) & Morton Consulting Services Charges soar past pension SUNSHINE Coast pensioner Ray Lowe (pictured) reckons councillors have no idea how much pain rate rises are causing. The 79-year-old is one of five pensioners in his Aroona street doing it tough, as rate rises outstrip CPI pension increases. ‘‘They can go on about how much it costs them, but what does it bloody well cost me?’’ he said. ‘‘You have a CPI increase of 2 per cent in six months and you are expected to pay an 8 or 10 per cent increase in rates.’’ Pay more, get less? It doesn’t add up BUSINESS owners in Yeppoon are dirty on amalgamation. ‘‘It’s basic things like the footpaths in the CBD used to be cleaned regularly. They are evidently not cleaned now,’’ says Wayne Hoey, spokesman for the Capricorn Coast Business Community Group. ‘‘The bill has gone up and the service has gone down. You can’t say that’s a good result.’’ The coastal town used to be the heart of the old Livingstone Shire Council. Now it’s part of Rockhampton Regional Council. ‘‘We had a very proactive local council that we’ve lost to a much more bureaucratic and less-in-touch council,’’ Mr Hoey says. ‘‘While the Capricorn Coast has 16 per cent of businesses in the greater Rockhampton region, they contributed 18 per cent of the rates. That’s unreasonable.’’ Many shops and offices in Yeppoon sit empty, having closed their doors over recent months. Mr Hoey says while amalgamation is not to blame for businesses closing, the former local council would have been much more responsive to their problems. ‘‘They would have gone into assist mode,’’ he said. His group was formed specifically to give locals a stronger voice in liaising with the new council. The Sunday Mail/LGAQ survey shows four out of five people in the old Livingstone area would support de-amalgamation. But Mr Hoey says the costs involved would make a split impractical. ‘‘I guess we have given up on de-amalgamation . . . but boy, we have suffered as a result of the amalgamation.’’ Kelmeny Fraser Frustrated: Wayne Hoey (left) and fellow business owners in Yeppoon last week.
