Ratepayers say Tamworth council lacks transparency in rates push

Several community meetings were planned for this week, in Tamworth and outlying communities, and it's clear residents have plenty to say.

"Because of the rate rise and the passion we had so many new people come we had to postpone the AGM and deal with the 36 per cent rate rise because of the number of people," the association's Vice President David McKinnon said.

Mr McKinnon said the AGM-turned-special-rate-variation meeting was largely focused on how to create a large enough backlash to stop the proposed rate increase dead in its tracks.

He said the group is looking to learn from Bathurst, where community outrage recently forced the council to abandon a plan to raise rates by up to 70 per cent.

"There was quite a bit of conversation about the success Bathurst has had, so we immediately looked at getting in touch with the Bathurst group who not only threw out their outrageous rate rise but also threw out the mayor," Mr McKinnon said.

The vice president said the most important thing is getting residents informed and engaged. He said he was especially disappointed with the low turnout at the recent community consultation sessions held in Tamworth.

"If you're only going to get 12 or 14 people at these meetings, that's not going to be enough to turn the table," he said.

Mr McKinnon said many of the attendees at the association's meeting were not made aware of the community consultation sessions until it was too late to attend.

"Many were saying we only got our letter today [Thursday] or yesterday [Wednesday]. It was on the council notice board prior to being told through a letter, but when they put it on their website not a lot of people are going there," he said.

Mr McKinnon said the anger and confusion among ratepayers is evidence of Tamworth council failing to uphold its own communications strategy adopted last year to improve transparency.

"It seems blindly contradictory when you realise people are not being informed of critical things like a 36 per cent rate rise," he said.

That sentiment is being echoed online, where ratepayers have taken to platforms such as Facebook to raise awareness of the special rate variation (SRV) and their issues with council's communication.

Of particular concern has been the timing of rates notices and information letters arriving in residents' letterboxes without enough notice to attend council's community consultation sessions.

"[The letter] states that information sessions in Tamworth will be held on Tuesday, October 17, the [same] day the letter arrived in our letter box. I only opened it this morning while having breakfast as I didn't get my mail from my mail box until late last night. Thanks for the advance notice TRC," one local resident posted on a popular community Facebook page.

In less than a day the post amassed more than 100 comments, most outraged.

Some ratepayers said they haven't received an information letter at all, despite the community consultation period closing in less than two weeks.

"We haven't even received one in our household," Tamworth resident Cindy Wendt said on Facebook.

A Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) spokesperson said the letters sent to residents are just one of many council has undertaken to notify the community of the proposed special rate variation (SRV) and community information sessions.

"An extensive print, TV, radio and social media advertising campaign has been running across the region since Council voted to start a conversation with the community at the council meeting on Tuesday, 12 September," the spokesperson said.

They also said the letters were only sent to property owners who have an outstanding balance at the time of generating the rate notices, which is why many ratepayers have not received letters at all.

"Anyone who did not owe money on the second instalment did not receive a notice. The second instalment notice delivery to residents was brought forward to allow the inclusion of some Special Rate Variation information. Unfortunately, some of these notices are still making their way to residents," the spokesperson said.

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Councillor Mark Rodda told the Leader the council's communications team has done a great job on social media and other forms of advertising, but the fact ratepayers received information letters on the same day of community consultation is, at best, a "bad look" for council.

At worst, he said, it could destroy council's chances of getting the proposed rate increase through IPART, the state regulator.

"Ultimately, if the public makes submissions saying they didn't get any early notice of this meeting, and therefore the consultation is flawed, IPART will review that, see that ratepayers got an invitation to a public meeting the day of or day after, and will take a dim view of that," Cr Rodda said.

"There's no way you can say you ticked the consultation box properly if people didn't get the notices in a timely manner."

TRC confirmed it will not be scheduling any supplementary information sessions for Tamworth residents and encouraged them to instead visit council's 'Have Your Say' website where they can read through a range of frequently asked questions and submit feedback until October 31.

After community consultation, TRC will consider the public's submissions and decide whether to proceed with the rate increase at its meeting on November 28.

TRC has been sharing information with the public on the proposed rate increase for more than a month, but former councillor Jim Maxwell told the Leader their attempts at communication with the public haven't been very effective, particularly in nearby towns like Manilla and Barraba.

"It always has been a problem, getting the message across and get it across properly. Mind you, people have got to be interested in listening in what's being told to them, but communication has always been a problem for TRC," Mr Maxwell said.

The former councillor said he didn't attend the community consultation session in Manilla on Wednesday, October 18, but heard from others it was "very volatile" and confrontational.

Mr Maxwell said part of the reason residents in Manilla and Barraba are furious with the proposed rate increase is because the first they heard about it was from neighbours who were already opposed.

In the absence of information from council, some residents have been organising opposition to the rate increase using information letters of their own.

"In a way, I think that's caused because the message isn't coming through from TRC," Mr Maxwell said.

"It is an unusual rate hike, no doubt about that, and as such it really needed a lot more communication through to people.

"It's alright to put it on social media but a lot of people don't have social media or read the paper these days, so there's no better way than a letter drop."

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