Member survey | AGM | NRM Levy | Planning & Design Code | LGASA Commercial No Images? Click here Vol 4: Issue 21 - Monday 30 September 2019 Providing medical services isn’t a core responsibility of local government, but it’s an area some councils have had to move into to ensure the health and wellbeing of their communities. The State Government is investing $20 million in the development and implementation of a Rural Health Workforce Strategy to address this issue, and make sure all South Australians have access to local heath services. The LGA has provided a submission to the Draft Consultation Plan, and we look forward to working with the Government on creative and sustainable solutions that will support better local health outcomes for regional and rural SA. LGA President Sam Telfer Member surveyLast week you should have received an email inviting you to complete the 2019 LGA Members’ Survey. We run this survey every year to seek feedback from mayors and councillors, as well as council CEOs and staff, about what the LGA is doing right, and where we can improve. The information you provide has an important role in setting the priorities and strategic direction for the LGA, and feeds into our business planning, budgeting and performance monitoring processes. Please take a couple of minutes to fill this in, and have your say on the future direction of your Association. Of course, should you have any suggestions or concerns at any time, I am always happy for you to contact me directly to raise them. 2019 LGA Conference and Annual General Meeting This year’s Conference and Annual General Meeting will be held at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday 30 October and Thursday 31 October. The theme of this year’s event is leadership. The full program will be available soon, and will include speakers such as Minister for Local Government the Hon Stephan Knoll MP, Business SA CEO Martin Haese, and AFL great Paul Roos. Click here for more information and to register to attend. Thursday’s AGM will include motions on a wide range of issues relevant to our sector, including planning and heritage, regional economic development and climate change. The meeting papers will be available via LGA Circular tomorrow afternoon. NRM Levy The Upper House amendments to the Landscape SA Bill that remove the obligation on councils to collect and pass on the levy to the State Government were rejected by the Government in the Lower House last week. These amendments will now require further negotiation between the Houses. The Government’s position is that it will cost the State Government money to establish a new process to collect its own levy, and this will divert funds away from environmental initiatives. We are yet to see any evidence of what these costs would be and how they compare to the hidden costs to councils to administer the collection of the levy, deal with ratepayers’ queries and complaints and chase unpaid levies. The Government now has the mechanisms to collect its own Emergency Services Levy, and we see no reason why this can’t be an option for the NRM/Landscapes levy too. We are committed to helping the Government collect their levy by providing them with any information they require, but don’t believe that councils should be forced to collect the levy for them. The clear feedback from councils is that the costs of collecting this state government levy far exceeds the reimbursements available and reputational damage it causes. The current arrangements are not transparent for rate payers and do not hold the State Government accountable for the taxes they collect from councils or through councils like the bin tax. The draft legislation allows the government of the day to collect even more money from rate payers for ‘special circumstances’ on top of the levy, so councils could be forced to collect even more money for a range of unknown state government initiatives. This is a clear cost shift from the State Government to councils. This issue is important to councils and if you have further evidence of how much it is costing your communities please let us know now so that we can continue to advocate on your behalf. Planning and Design Code Consultation on the State Government’s Planning and Design Code is expected to commence this week. The Code is a key component of the Government’s planning reforms, and will replace all 72 South Australian Development Plans by the end of the financial year. Most regional councils will be given eight weeks to comment on the Code, with larger regional and metropolitan councils given a longer timeframe. The LGA has written to the Chair of the State Planning Commission to ask that the consultation period for all councils be extended until February 2020, and for implementation of the Code to commence in both regional and metropolitan areas on 1 July 2020. Given this is the most significant change to our State’s planning system in the last 25 years, we believe all councils and communities should be provided with the same opportunity to review the Code, and provide the Government with their feedback. LGASA Commercial update Since commencing operations late last year, LGASA Commercial has launched a range of services including Legal, Energy Audits, Travel, Media Training and Crisis Management, CEO/Executive Recruitment, CEO Performance Reviews and Human Resource Consulting services. So far 74% of councils and regional LGAs have engaged with these services, realising estimated savings across the sector of around $710k. Member councils are also benefitting from the downward pressure on pricing from other providers, particularly in the recruitment field which has seen price reductions of up to 50%. Responding to demand from members, LGASA Commercial is currently working on the rollout of a HR/IR subscription library (policies, procedures, contracts and employment agreements). The service will also include a free telephone support line to assist councils with their HR/IR needs. Expressions of interest will be sent to councils in October and the library will be available from 1 February 2020. LGASA Commercial now incorporates LGASA Training with a clear focus on understanding the sector’s training needs, and tailoring training solutions to fit. There is also a commitment to take training to the regions and reduce the cost of services. Executive Director Commercial Steve Nolis has also been leading a Public Lighting Working Group (PLWG), working collaboratively with SAPN under the oversight of the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to assist the sector in transitioning to an Alternative Control Service (ACS) Model for future tariff pricing and LED rollouts. The key outcomes to date include a reduction in tariffs, a reduction in the cost of luminaires, the removal of a regional tariff and introduction of a standard agreement (including no exit fees). A draft business model with calculators is now available to help councils in their decision making around transitioning to LED lighting. This calculates the financial benefits of transitioning into either a PLC tariff (LED luminaries purchased by council) or a SAPN LED tariff (LED luminaires provided by SAPN). The PLWG is currently working on a future service level agreement, and is working with SAPN to review their future capital expenditure costs and how this may affect future tariff pricing. This process is expected to save the sector between $10 - $30 million dollars over the next five years. For further information on any of the LGASA Commercial offerings please contact Executive Director Commercial Steve Nolis on 041 983 2092 or at steve.nolis@lga.sa.gov.au. September LGA Board Meeting The September LGA Board Meeting was held at LG House on Thursday 19 September. Key outcomes from the meeting included:
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