NRM Levy | Mandatory training | Mayor's Leadership Forum | Joy Baluch award No Images? Click here Vol 4: Issue 26 - Tuesday 26 November 2019 The fires may be gone but the recovery phase is just beginning. Some councils will be heavily involved in this process in the coming months and beyond. One of the best things about local government is the way we work together, and it was fantastic to see councils working with each other - and other agencies - to protect and support their communities. LGA President Sam Telfer NRM LevyAt the request of members, the LGA has spent the past few years pushing for an overhaul of the NRM Levy collection arrangements that currently force councils to collect the Levy from ratepayers on behalf of the State Government. Two months ago we secured amendments to the Landscape SA Bill in the Upper House that would have removed this burden from councils. However, these changes were not supported by the Government, and after the issue was taken to a deadlock committee, the amendments were voted down in the Legislative Council on 14 November. We came very close to a favourable result and I would like to thank Labor and SA-BEST, who continued to support our sector on this issue throughout the entire Parliamentary process. This was not the outcome we were hoping for, but the LGA was able to negotiate some concessions that will reduce the impact of the current collection requirements on our sector. The first of these is that councils will now be able to seek reimbursement from the State Government for bad NRM debts that have been written off. The second is that the Government will need consult with the LGA before setting the payments that councils receive for collecting the Levy on their behalf. We will be advocating strongly on behalf of members to ensure that councils and ratepayers aren’t short-changed on these payments. The LGA will continue to push for transparency in taxation by highlighting every dollar of State Government revenue we are forced to collect from our communities. Mandatory council member trainingThe 2018 councils elections were twelve months ago, which means all mayors and councillors have until the end of this month to complete their mandatory training requirements. There are four mandatory modules that both new and continuing members are required to complete:
LGA Education and Training provides training for each of these modules which you can complete online at your convenience. Mayor’s Leadership ForumThe LGA will host a Mayor’s Leadership Forum at LG House on Wednesday 4 December, from 4-7pm. The theme of the forum is Strategic Thinking as Strategic Seeing, and the guest speaker will be Dr Chad Chiu, a Senior Lecturer and member of the Centre for Workplace Excellence (CWeX) School of Management. You can register to attend via the LGA Education and Training website. Joy Baluch AwardNominations for the 2020 Joy Baluch Award are now open. This award recognises women who have made significant contributions to our sector as elected members. Earlier this year I presented Orroroo Carrieton Mayor Kathie Bowman with this year’s award, and I look forward to presenting the award to next year’s winner at our Showcase dinner in April. You can find out more and download a nomination form on our website. Nominations will close on Friday 28 February 2020. LGA Board MeetingUnfortunately we were unable to travel to Kadina for our November LGA Board meeting last week due to the catastrophic fire danger conditions on Wednesday. The meeting was moved to Adelaide, with most regional board members participating remotely. Some of the outcomes from the meeting included:
The full minutes will be on our website by the end of this week. 2020 LGA Ordinary General MeetingThe LGA’s 2020 Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) will be held on Friday 3 April at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. The deadline for items of business to be considered by SAROC, GAROC or the LGA Board for inclusion in the OGM agenda has been extended to Friday 7 February. I would encourage you to engage early with LGA staff should your council wish to put forward agenda items for this meeting. Further information on the submission process is outlined in this circular. For further information or to submit |