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What do my rates pay for?
Yearly shopping for a shire
A new park, new books for the library and repairs to the shire’s roads - a lot goes into preparing a shopping list for a shire of 156,000 people.
What’s in our purse?
Rates $ 65
Grants $ 19
Fees and Charges $ 16
TOTAL $100 *
What it will cost?
Waste management and street cleaning $ 16
Governance and administration $ 13
Road, footpath and transport management $ 12
Parks, gardens and sportsgrounds $ 12
Town planning $ 8
Community services $ 7
Engineering and works $ 7
Public libraries $ 6
Environmental protection $ 4
Stormwater management $ 3
Fire protection and emergency services $ 3
Swimming pools $ 3
Street lighting $ 2
Property management $ 2
Community centres $ 1
Animal control and public health $ 1
TOTAL $100 *
*Illustrative only, based on estimates per $100 for the 2008/2009 financial year
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Shopping List (507.134 KB)
Comment 1 25 Oct 2009, 9:53 PM
I have a castle hill postcode and go to castle hill library, get the police and fire services from castle hill, etc...why on earth should I pay to fund something over 40 minutes away (outside peak traffic) in hornsby? The only pool in the area that I know of is in cherrybrook and that is privately owned and funded, why should I pay for something that may not even exist as far as I am concerned. Governance and administration - the second most expensive item on the list - thats your salaries....Town planning - sounds like you've made a great job of that if you've run out of money already....and so on.....
Comment 1.1 29 Oct 2009, 1:51 PM
So you should be paying funds to Baulkham Hills Shire council instead then? At the end of the day you are paying rates to some council or other. The big question is "do we get a good level of service for the money we pay?"
The police and Fire service by the way have nothing to do with local government areas as they are a State Government service. As for using Castle Hill library I can use it too, in the same way I use Willoughby and Stanton libaries, and I live near Hornsby. What council area you live in doesn't prevent you from using other council areas' libraries
Comment 1.1.1 17 Feb 2010, 12:22 PM
i cant seriously say the level of service is in line with current, comtemporary expectations - road congestion is the most obvious downfall. If council was a private organisation, they would have been fired a long time ago. Why should we keep paying more to a sinking ship. Im sure we can do a better job if we keep or $$ to ourselves.
Comment 2 26 Oct 2009, 9:34 AM
I cannot get Council to lop the branches off trees,(in a council park) that overhang my property. No $$ in the forward budgets I'm told. Now I'm expected to pay for infrastructure where there is no cash & I'm to be slugged again on top of the Quarry & remediation levies of $104pa. I know its a big shire & council do a good job but if someone is eating pastries at meetings inlieu of plain biscuits I'm not happy.
Comment 3 11 Nov 2009, 4:52 PM
$13million on governance & administration, $8million on town planning, etc, etc. Little evidence of any of that impacting over in Galston; only more incompetently planned and incompatible development by privateers. Aside from the areas natural beauty, many of the common areas (especially the shopping centre precinct) are shabby. Many small towns I have visited recently in western NSW put us to shame. We are talking about 2-4,000 population size towns. They have street plantings of flowers and trees; nice paving, even reasonable roads. If Council cannot manage on the $127,000,000 annual revenue then perhaps we don't need the Council.
Comment 4 15 Nov 2009, 3:22 PM
Evidentiary to the abovementioned information there is already funds collected for Hornsby Aquatic Centre etc Where are the funds currently going to if they are already over budget?