Productivity Commission Inquiry | Waste and recycling | LGA Board meeting No Images? Click here Vol 4: Issue 19 - Monday 2 September 2019 Earlier today I spoke at the 2019 Public Libraries SA Conference about the importance of libraries. Libraries and the array of associated services have almost universal support in our communities, and for good reason. However, our ability to deliver these services is dependant on the funding partnership we have with the State Government. The current ten-year funding agreement will expire in 2021, and we’ll be looking for early agreement on an extension that will at least maintain current levels. As we get closer I will let you know how you can best support our efforts to extend this funding. LGA President Sam Telfer Productivity Commission Inquiry into Local GovernmentThe Productivity Commission released the draft report for their Inquiry into local government costs and efficiency last Friday. This draft report shows that councils are generally achieving a high rate of efficiency, and working hard to improve their financial performance and value to communities. However, it acknowledges there are opportunities for further improvement, and the LGA will be looking carefully at the draft recommendations. In particular, there are opportunities to work more collaboratively as a sector. Councils have made a lot of progress in this area in recent years, but there’s more that can be done. There is a wealth of research and resources on shared services available to members through the Local Government Research and Development Scheme library and we are keen to explore how the LGA can support councils to drive efficiencies through better partnerships. It’s encouraging to see that the impact of State Government decisions on councils has been recognised in the draft report. This was something the LGA highlighted extensively in its second submission to the Inquiry. The video below covers the key points from this submission. We also strongly support the draft recommendation for sector-wide benchmarking. The LGA has been calling for State Government support for a performance reporting framework since 2017, and hopefully we’ll now see some action on this. This report is only a draft, and includes 19 requests for further information in areas such as workforce planning, resource sharing, industrial relations reform, and accountability and transparency measures. We’ll be working closely with members to source this information and provide it to the Commission during their eight-week consultation period. Two workshops with the Productivity Commission at LG House this week will provide an opportunity for councils to provide feedback, and ask questions. Tomorrow’s workshop will focus on metropolitan councils, and Wednesday’s will cover regional councils. It’s not too late to register for these workshops, so please think about attending either in person or via Zoom if you can. Waste and recycling Last week the Cities of Charles Sturt and Port Adelaide Enfield announced they are partnering in building and running a new Material Recovery Facility (MRF) (subscriber link). With South Australia facing a recycling crisis it is fantastic to see councils working together as part of the solution. This project will ensure that recycling collected from these communities is processed locally, and build confidence in the three-bin system. However, it shouldn’t be left to ratepayers to entirely foot the bill. The State Government will collect more than $40 million from councils through the Solid Waste Levy this year, while only making $2.5 million available in waste and recycling grants. Money collected through this Levy should be invested in projects that will support the creation of a circular economy in South Australia. We will continue to advocate for more Government investment in waste and recycling projects that will drive downward pressure on rates. Councils also have a role to play in driving demand for recycled products, and the LGA has been working with nine councils on a pilot project to set procurement targets for using recycled materials in council projects. We’ll be officially launching this project in the next few weeks and I look forward to sharing further details with you then. LGA Board meeting The August LGA Board meeting was held in Adelaide last Wednesday. Outcomes from the meeting included:
The minutes from this meeting will be on our website Evaluating economic development programs Did you know you there is a framework available to evaluate your council’s economic development programs? Funded through the LG Research & Development Scheme, the Development and Evaluation of Economic Development Measures report outlines a decision-making framework that can help councils, Regional Development Australia Committees and others to make sound choices. It also looks at the rapidly-growing number of data sources (“big data”), and how councils can tap into these sources with commercially-available subscriptions. You can download the report from the LG Research & Development website. For further information or to submit |