Monday, 27 November 2023 

As you would be aware, Shoalhaven City Council held an extraordinary meeting on Monday 
20 November 2023 to consider several recommendations in the financial sustainability 
review undertaken by Graham Jarvis that assessed the capacity of Council to maintain 
access to cash and infrastructure assets while delivering the services that we all expect.

“While I do not support a rate rise of 44%, I do support the actions taken by the Labor 
Councillors that voted to undertake community consultation and for Council to do an 
internal stocktake to find cost saving measures. This action is completely appropriate, and 
Councillors are undertaking their due diligence and acting responsibly.”

“I wish to be extremely clear; Councillors did not vote for a rate increase of any amount; they 
voted on getting community feedback.”

“At the council meeting on Monday night Councillor Paul Ell stated, “I’m not going to stand
here and say to the community that we are going to get out of this without a rate rise, there 
will be a rate rise at some point unfortunately. But I don’t think we should be going for the 
upper end of what we can ask for.” 

“However, when it came to the vote, Mr Ell did not support a resolution to ask the 
community for feedback, as he knew that the Labor Councillors would act responsibly and 
not play petty politics for fear of losing votes.”

“If Councillors had not voted the way that they did, and that is to consult with the 
community, then due the rules set by IPART, Council would not be able to increase rates 
until 2025, and when reading the independent report, it is apparent that if no action is 
undertaken then services will be cut.” 

“At a meeting of the Ulladulla Forum last Thursday evening, Graham Jarvis who wrote the 
report, delivered a summary of the report findings and how Shoalhaven Council got to the 
current situation where a rate rise, a special rate variation, asset sales, and expenditure 
management will be needed to achieve an operating budget within the next number of years 
that has enough unrestricted cash reserves to sustain us if there is another disaster requiring 
unplanned expenditure.”

“In regards to disaster funding, the Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips and I have both 
worked extremely hard to ensure that Shoalhaven Council receives this funding in a timely 
manner, and I am continuing to work with Janelle Saffin MP the Secretary for Disaster 
Recovery, and the New South Wales Recovery Authority to introduce changes in the way 
disaster funding is administrated in the future to ensure that Councils are not put under 
financial strain when a disaster occurs.” 

“The Minns Government has already changed the way disasters are managed after they have 
happened to take the burden off Councils. Previously Council’s were responsible for 
undertaking all recovery and resilience work, whereas now it will be the responsibility of the 
State Government Reconstruction Agency. This will take additional burden off Councils, 
especially when there are numerous disasters in a short period of time.”

“The State Government will also be commissioning an independent investigation into the 
financial models of Councils. This will be undertaken early next year and the terms of 
reference for this review are currently being finalised.”

“Every ratepayer and resident of the Shoalhaven should have their say, and I urge everyone 
to complete the community survey on council’s website and also email my office to lodge 
their feedback so that I can continue to advocate for my community.”