RCoW set to save up to $1,000,000 a year

Cost shifting from the Federal to State and on to Local government was first tackled five years ago when the 'Australian Local Government Association' (ALGA) began lobbying the Federal Government.

Two years later, Local Government Minister Wilson Tuckey began an inquiry into 'local government and cost shifting'. A year later, the Committee report - Rates and Taxes: A fair share for responsible local government - was tabled in Federal Parliament and had bipartisan support.

The report estimated cost shifting accross Australia's 700 councils to be between $500m to $1.1bn a year. That is between $700,000 to $1.4 million per municipality.

The lobbying came to fruition with Today's meeting of the Local Government and Planning Ministers Council in Melbourne agreeing to the development of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the three spheres of government that will help ensure fair treatment of local government in its financial dealings with its state and federal counterparts.

Let us hope the new council to be elected in November will benefit by the removal of cost shifting. We may even be able to convince the RCoW to mow the rural parklands which they have avoided in the past citing that it would imply cost shifting fronm DSE to the RCoW.

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Associated article: Ministers give green light to cost shifting agreement
Associated article: Joint media release - Jim Lloyd/ALGA
Associated article: Australian Government's response to the Fair Share Report
Associated article: Key points summary

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