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Business View Australia - March-April 2016 47
INFRASTRUCTURE
concerned, Council has developed a
detailed asset management plan and
is in the process of increasing rates by
about 3%, whichwill yield an additional
$1 million per year. This sum will be
utilised towards road maintenance
and reconstruction to ensure that
roads continue to be improved tomeet
the expectations of the community.
After taking all these pre-emptive
steps and following a policy of
prudently managing its financial
resources, Great Lakes Council will
be one of the few Councils in New
South Wales which does not have
any backlog of roads and bridges.
The main constraint that it has
faced is the problem of rate capping
which has been prevalent in New
South Wales for the last 40 years.
The minor increases in rates that
are allowed under rate pegging
do not permit the backlog of work
to be addressed. It is even more