The bad news arrived just as the Southern Downs began the long slog of cleaning up after the latest severe storm.
The shire has slammed the highest level of government, along with most councils, in suggesting that they should either pay millions in ratepayer dollars to access critical disaster information or rely on BOM’s highly criticised new website.
The Bureau of Meteorology has told councils they will be switching off the free flood and weather system that many councils rely on, according to the LGAQ. Councils have warned the replacement system will cost between $10,000 and $600,000 a year depending on geographic location.
Southern Downs Regional Mayor, Cr Melissa Hamilton says that “our taxes are used to fund the Bureau of Meteorology, but now we’re being told that we have to pay again to access real time data that keeps our communities safe. It’s just not on.”
Mayor Hamilton points out that taxes go to Canberra, yet only 0.5% of that money comes back to local government.
“In the 1970s this was 1% and for the Southern Downs Regional Council that would be an additional $7 million per year of our residents’ taxes coming back and being spent locally.”
This is just another example of cost shifting that councils in the country’s most disaster-prone state should not have to pay.
For Mayor Hamilton, the solution is not clear.
“The costs to local government and communities of natural disasters is increasing much faster than our revenue. And we shouldn’t have to raise rates to pay for this. We need the Federal Government to establish a National Climate Disaster Fund that will ensure communities across Australia are prepared, fund resilience upgrades ahead of future events and help pay for the costs of natural disaster response and recovery for Australian households, businesses, and taxpayers.”
