00:00Well, G'day everybody, Andrew Constance, CEO of Shoalhaven City Council.
00:04Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be out in the community talking to you all about
00:09the challenges besetting the community, particularly as it relates to our road infrastructure.
00:14Reality is that we do not have the finances to be all things to all people. Our road network
00:20is struggling and it comes at a time where our rate capping means that we don't have the funds
00:27available to be able to invest back into the roads in the way that you would like us to,
00:32and then deliver the vast array of services that are so important to our community. We've surveyed
00:37the community. We know where the satisfaction levels are with the services that we provide.
00:42But I also want to assure you that as a council, we have set about delivering more efficiently our
00:48services and our infrastructure. We've reduced headcount from 1188 down to 1068. We've reduced
00:55the number of fleet vehicles by around 85. And we set in place a target of $10 million in savings,
01:02which was set a number of years ago, and we're well and truly on track to achieve that.
01:08I do need to have this discussion with everybody. I'd ask you to come to the forums that we've set
01:12so that you can participate, understand the true extent of the problem. I'm not going to sugarcoat this.
01:18We are in serious trouble when it comes to the future of our finances, and then at the same time,
01:25being able to deliver better quality roads, which is what everybody is concerned about. It's unfair
01:32that as a rate payer, you have to subsidise roads where we have 3 million visitors visit the Shilhaven
01:38without paying any money or any contribution to the investment required to keep our roads to a standard.
01:45In the last couple of years, our teams worked hard to get the right roads data in place to be
01:49able to
01:50make these decisions. So now we are at a juncture, a fork in the road, where we need to have
01:56this
01:57discussion with you about how we're going to fund our infrastructure, our services, our community-based
02:02services that the council delivers into the future. And it's going to be a very honest discussion with
02:08you in the next couple of weeks.
02:14You
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