Ratepayers to bear cost of Council errors - 5 March 2009

Greens MP Ian Cohen is calling on the Minister for Local Government to hold Local Council staff and Councillors accountable for extreme negligence and misconduct rather than leaving ratepayers to foot the bill.

“The Minister for Local Government must take action to ensure local council staff and councillors are held accountable for extreme negligence and misconduct rather than leaving ratepayers out of pocket paying for the correction of costly environmental errors made by their councils,” says NSW Greens MP Ian Cohen.

"With recent revelations about NSW taxpayers footing the bill for a $1 million dollar defamation defence for a long standing Labor Member serving on a Catchment Management Authority (CMA), it is appropriate we consider the same issue in relation to local councils"

"I'd like the Minister, Barbara Perry, to take a look at the instances where we have seen criminal environmental offences and local ratepayers are bearing significant environmental remediation costs."

“In a recent judgement by the NSW Land and Environment Court, a senior council employee was prosecuted under the National Parks and Wildlife Act for his role in causing damage to habitat of a threatened species by undertaking construction of road works on land at Partridge Creek.”

“The Court found that the Council and a council employee had acted illegally and ordered the Council to remediate the site at a cost of $350, 000. Unfortunately it is the ratepayers of Port Macquarie-Hastings who have to foot the bill for this act of negligence.”

“I would encourage the Minister for Local Government to investigate whether use of specific powers under the Local Government Act to levy or surcharge councillors or council staff with losses incurred by Council due to serious cases of negligence and misconduct would be justified in this situation."

"A clear message needs to be sent to local councillors and upper management of local councils that they should not expect to be indemnified against the costs of serious environmental violations."