February 2024 Oberon Council Meeting

February 29, 2024

As usual, Council considered a range of matters at this meeting, The full Agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Here is a summary of some of the discussion.

Cr McCarthy put forward a Notice of Motion to seek quotations for the 2024/25 Operational Plan to upgrade the Oberon Skate Park surveillance cameras. It was not supported as there is already a standing Resolution of Council from November 2022 and a report and quotation was provided at the time.

The camera might be there but it isn't monitored.

The Community Services Committee requested Council commitment to hosting another End of Year Spectacular in 2024 with appropriate budget and resources in the 24/25 Operational Plan.  This motion was supported with a minor amendment. The event has been in place for two years and has proved to be a huge success for the town and community.

It was also noted that former Mayor, Kathy Sajowitz, has resigned from the Community Services Committee. The Mayor offered thanks for Kathy's hard work.

Some of the crowd at the 2023 Spectacular.

Rates are always an issue, and any rate increase is a matter for concern for everyone. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) sets proposed maximum rate increases each year for all councils in NSW. In 2023, a flat rate was applied across the state, but for the 2024-25 year a rate was calculated for each council. The suggestion for Oberon was 5.2%.

Cr Larren Trembath offered this explanation - "The IPART Rates increase of 5.2% was carried 7-2 by the majority of Councillors. It was acknowledged that the increase was necessary with the increases in employee costs, goods and materials and fixed overheads. The IPART rate peg methodology has the inclusion of population growth, employee cost allocation for superannuation and a catch up of the ESL (Emergency Services Levy) and for the first time reflects the needs of individual Councils and not a one size fits all as has been the case previously. The majority of Council determined it was not an easy decision, it was a responsible decision to make now and not have to cut services or leave it to a new term of Council and longer term possibly require special rate variations as has been the case with surrounding Councils."

The rather lengthy IPART document can be seen from Page 56 of the business papers.

A video recording of the meeting can be found on YouTube.

The minutes of the meeting can be found here.

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