Story: Gary Fry
Armidale Dumaresq Council urgently needs to establish a new waste landfill site. The bureaucratic struggle to achieve this has taken decades. Now, Cr Andrew Murat has gone public, with a warning that the major project will take the Council’s finances to the edge of breaking point, because “ratepayers have a right to know”.
According to Cr Murat, Council now has the required approvals from regulatory authorities like the EPA; and General Manager Shane Burns is currently awaiting three valuations on the land in question, as required by the Local Government Act.
“The Council has put forward a cost in the vicinity of $14.2mil for the landfill project on the Waterfall Way.
“Council has also been advised that there is a need for a new alternative waste transfer facility, to be installed at the existing landfill site on Long Swamp Road.
“At a workshop, we were given a ‘ball-park’ figure of $2.5mil for that. With the total cost of the project at $17.7mil., I have grave concerns that the amount we are going to need to borrow is going to push Council dangerously close to exceeding the maximum amount that a council can borrow,” Cr Murat said.
“Department of Local Govern-ment guidelines allow for a council to have a debt service ratio of 10 per cent of its total income. For a special purpose, such as the landfill, Council is allowed to borrow up to 15 per cent but must apply to the Department to do so. The debt ratio currently stands at around six per cent. Borrowing $14.4 for the landfill will push ADC’s debt service ratio to just over 14 per cent, but then you have to add the alternative waste transfer station at the current landfill site.”
Cr.Murat said he is not refuting the need for a new landfill site for the Armidale area or new, alternative waste disposal methods.
