Bretts story on screen
Australia's most livable town p3
Candidates vie for your vote
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Major grants for sports grounds
Next chapter for Terragong
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11 MAR 2023
Unanimous decisions to guide way forward While the decision at Council’s Extraordinary Meeting on 28 February not to include the Terralong St ILUs in the sale of Blue Haven was the focus of attention for many, a number of other pivotal decisions were made unanimously to help Council meet its Performance Improvement Order (PIO) from the Office of Local Government and restore its financial viability. “Those decisions weren’t taken lightly or off-the-cuff,” says Mayor Neil Reilly. “Everything was questioned and everything was debated. However once that debate was over, and minor and major amendments made, all were unanimous decisions of Council. “I commend the Councillors and Council staff for their vital contributions to the Meeting. I am pleased that we reached a consensus, with some give-and-take from all sides. Tough decisions were made, the outcomes of which have given us a solid path forward towards a sustainable future for our Council and our Municipality. “The community knows we have wrestled with the issues around our finances and Blue Haven since we were sworn into office back in January 2022. Debates have swung back and forth many times because of the significance of these decisions. “I’ve been speaking all year about the need for compro-
mise and for us to work as a team. This all came together and I’m proud of what we achieved.” The decisions, most of which reinforce the need for further asset sales, included: • accepting the two year cash flow forecasts, which show that “further asset divestment to clear the full TCorp debt and also leave KMC a respectable unrestricted funds position at June 2024 is required.” Amongst other things, the report says further asset divestments are needed as the sale of Blue Haven Bonaira is expected to result in a net cash injection of just $20 to $25 million, possibly by late 2023, as well as a reduction in current liabilities of $72 million. Capital works expenditure has also been reduced by $5 million for both 2023 and 2024, and operational efficiencies are needed. • accepting the Liquidity Plan, which the business paper says, “illustrates, subject to property sales being realised at the values and within the timeframes anticipated, that the concerns with Council’s ability to clear its debts, replenish reserves and build working capital to meet its regular outgoings, may be eased. Council has already identified several reserves
(restricted funds) to be currently due August 2023. with some of the properreplenished, such as Em- • approving the Property ties already in the process ployee Leave Entitlements Plan, after stressing the of being sold. and property.” importance of considering • deciding on the distribu• approving talks to begin other factors rather than tion of the net proceeds on the early repayment just financial in deciding of $27.5 million from sale of $30 million of the $45 whether to refurbish, of Akuna Street, includmillion debt owned to repurpose, redevelop or ing making $1 million TCorp, as part of renegotidispose of. The Plan lists available for TCorp loan ating another loan for the 29 Council properties repayment; topping up remaining $15 million if and five Crown Reserve the prudential balances necessary. Full payment properties it manages, needed to be held for the
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State Election hots up In the two weeks since our last edition, the battle for Kiama in the State Election on 25 March has been attracting a lot of attention. The Prime Minister visited town to lend his support to Labor candidate Katelin McInnerney; the nomination of a local Liberal was rejected; the Premier and Opposition Leader made it clear they would suspend Gareth Ward again should he be re-elected; and at the last minute the Liberal Party nominated the outgoing Member for Holdsworthy, Melanie Gibbons, as their candidate for the seat. It's any guess what will happen in the next two weeks, with prepolling beginning on Saturday 18 March. Ms Gibbons ended her first day on the campaign trail as the Liberal candidate with a trip to the Kiama Farmers’
Phone: 4232 2757
21B Barney Street, KIAMA
RADS and ILU deposits by $4.6 million (required by the PIO); adding $2.5 million to the Employee Leave Entitlement reserves (required by the PIO) and $8.4 million to the Land Development restricted reserve; and injecting $11 million into operational cash.
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Market to meet local voters. She’s keen to get the Premier down to campaign for her, given he tapped her on the shoulder earlier this week, just in time to register with the Electoral Commission. “I said yes because Kiama needs a Liberal representa-
Fax: 4232 2676 ksmr@bigpond.com
tive,” she says. “We need to give people the chance to vote Liberal if they want to. “I love representing people and the opportunity to do that again, in such a special area, was really appealing.” Until this election, Ms Gibbons was the Member for
Melanie Gibbons on her first official trip to Kiama
Holdsworthy, but she failed to receive endorsement to run there again when her local branch was disbanded. “Politics happens,” she says philosophically. Continued on page 14
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