Your views: on history groups, rates and more
Today, readers comment on accommodating two history organisations, a council spending watchdog, and speaking up for Afghan girls and women.
Commenting on the story: SA History Trust secures new North Tce home
It is salutary and timely that the History Trust of SA has finally found an appropriate location for its administrative centre on North Terrace. However, the related election promise of the re-installation of the National Trust of SA as custodian of Ayers House is yet to be implemented.
The time is nigh for the Government to legislate the care and control of this keynote state heritage property to the National Trust and to expedite promised renovations and the diversion of the restaurant tenancy income to the Trust.
It is now 20 months since the then relevant Liberal Government Minister, David Speirs evicted the National Trust from Ayers House. The Trust membership, the heritage community and the general public will welcome an immediate, practical government commitment to bring this State Heritage icon back to life again in the public domain. – Warren Jones
Commenting on the story:Minister hits back after council blasts ‘waste of ratepayers’ money’ scheme
More State government bureaucracy imposed on local councils, adding to the costs of local ratepayers. – Evonne Moore
Minister Brock has been around long enough to know what council systems work and don’t work.
All councils have for many years had to present their long term financial plans to the Minister as part of the requirements under the Local Government Act 1999 in publishing their Annual Reports. Long term financial plans tell the real story of a council’s financial sustainability or otherwise.
Clearly by introducing an additional layer of bureaucratic overlay in passing the buck to ESCOSA proves that the Minister’s Office of Local Government has not had the skills or resources to study such plans, nor advise the Minister as to the adequacy of provisioning funds for councils’ future operating and capital expenditure.
Hence the industry has allowed depreciation provisions to follow an archaic mathematical formula without being measured against actuarial estimates based on the life of the asset.
My experience has been that councils’ asset and infrastructure long term financial plans have been adjusted to align with the old and unchallenged depreciation formula rather than measured against future costs.
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Hence ratepayers could be paying too much or too little in rates. And this allows councils to change their minds and spend more on new programmes rather than reserving funds to renew/replace our assets. As an example just look at the condition of our roads.
Unless ESCOSA appoints adequately trained specialists in the field of asset and infrastructure financial accounting this process will fail. Or perhaps the Office of Local Government could step up and take on that role which they should have been doing in the past. – Graham Webster
Commenting on the opinion piece: ‘No one leaves home, unless home is the mouth of a shark’
You have spoken so well, Fahima. And Ali Clarke, your compassion and generosity shine yet again. Please keep shining. – Jim Maher
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