As a ratepayer, I have always objected to Armidale Dumaresq Council’s largesse with our rates money – in this instance, giving away $40,000 over three years to “A Day on the Green” concert. The recent event must have made well over $600,000, the promoter saying recently in the media that Armidale is going to get “a lot more than (the $40,000) back’; at the same time, he said he expressed disappointment to hear about “negative feedback’ over council’s splashing out with ratepayers’ funds to support a commercial venture.
As one of the many contributors to that “negative feedback’, let me raise the following questions:
1. Was there enough accommodation in Armidale to cater for even a small percentage of the 6000 concert-goers?
2. As the promoters (Roundhouse Entertainment of Melbourne) made their money out of the event, will council insist on handing over the remaining two-thirds of our $40,000 to the promoters over the next two years as “seed funding’ for two more Day-on-the-Green “gigs”?
3. As council seems perfectly happy anticipating the hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in from “A Day on the Green”, are they, then, just as pleased with thirty million dollars of our rates money lost by the same council’s investing in Lehman Bros – a commercial venture – three years ago?
Dr Paul Fidlon,
Armidale
