BYRON SHIRE’S current survey seeking ratepayer opinions about rates increases over the next four years is deeply flawed.
Moreover, any Special Rate Variation (SRV) will be locked in forever, at the end of the four years SRV period.
In asking respondents which of three rates increases is preferred, the survey leaves out the option to leave rates as they are.
It’s the old “three card trick”, a less than honest way of using the survey results to proclaim, “Shire Ratepayers Call For X% Rate Rise Option.”
As Byron Shire Echo reader, former Byron Bay solicitor David Giddy, says in an Echo Letter to the Editor last week, “Missing from the available options was the option of no special rate increase.
“In addition, the options available were accompanied by the leading descriptions of ‘deteriorate’, ‘maintain’ or ‘improve’,” David wrote.
“A meaningful survey should be balanced and neutral as to the outcome.”
Cynical Exercise
The structure of the survey can only be seen as a cynical exercise in manipulating survey results to achieve Council’s desired result – that rate payers pay more every year, for the next 4 years.
And, according to Council’s press release on the subject, the increase will be locked in forever:
“All of the three rate rise options include the NSW state government’s estimated rate peg of 2.5%; they also have varying impacts on assets and service quality. At the end of the four year period the Special Rate Variation increase would be built into the general rate base and permanently retained.”
If Council wants to be honest and treat rate payers with some respect, then the survey results should be published in full and the wishes of the community respected. Otherwise, it is a false and time wasting measure.