Elections are very interesting. There are a lot of opinions, allegations and sometimes outright lies that are put on public record for the sake of gaining a few votes.

As I have read on more than one occasion, voters in the upcoming local government election need to make informed choices based on the facts. So here are a few myths that need busting.

Waste

Councillor Ekins has stated on record that in this current term of council, waste collection has been privatised and “effectively ripped a million dollars out of the local economy and gave it to a contractor from out of town and out of state.”

This is simply not true.

The fact is that this current term of council has inherited a waste operation costing ratepayers an average of $4.31 million per year since 2019; without intervention, this would have likely grown to $6.5 million at the end of FY25.

What council has done is undertake the most in-depth review of waste services that has ever been done in Lismore to determine the best path forward to enable meeting environmental expectations, recycling obligations and general waste management.

Councillor Ekins has proclaimed many times that LCC’s waste collection services “makes a million dollar profit every year.”

This section of the business of waste is determined by a forward projection of costs. These projections aim to cover the cost at best, so that council will break even at the end of the financial year. There is definitely no profit!

In fact, due to a complete disregard for adequate asset management over the past decade or more, the fleet of waste collection trucks are in such disrepair that out of the seven trucks owned by LCC, up to four of them can be in the council workshop for repair on any given day.

We have also inherited a fleet with such old technology, that our drivers are following printed maps with highlighted routes! No GPS, no camera’s, an outdated and inefficient system has led to the most inefficient operation possible. This is absolutely no fault of staff. This is a total neglect by elected officials from previous terms of Council to maintain and improve assets.

Why am I paying so much more for waste collection and receiving less service?

The reality is that the oversight of our collection service has not kept up with the demand of our LGA.

Previous terms of Council have not made these decisions for over a decade, which has placed us in this precarious position. A sobering statistic is that a truck has to pick up a bin every 17 seconds to cover the cost of having that truck on the road. That is possible in urban areas, but as the landscape moves into less densely populated areas, this becomes harder to achieve.

The new fee structure aims to ensure fairness across the LGA, ensures compliance of Councils cost recovery policies, and brings greater equity to those who are using the waste collection service. Previous councils have been asleep at the wheel in managing fair and equitable distribution of fees, and this council has been tasked to rectify that.

I would encourage everyone to have a good look at their rates notice, and talk with council officers to ensure your waste collection plan is what is best for your needs. Many people don’t actually know what service they are paying for. I spoke with a lady who was able to save a significant amount of money through a simple modification of her collection service.

Changing habits is hard, but in our waste services, it is absolutely critical to ensure viability and sustainability. We are projecting that with current changes, we will be at a break-even point in the 24/25 financial year. That is a dramatic turnaround from a potential $6.5 million loss last in FY25. That's $6.5 million to go into areas that you care about, like road repair, parks and gardens, footpaths, and other infrastructure to make our LGA a great place to live.

We have a plan for our LGA. Waste reform is one important step in strengthening the organisation of council to provide the services our ratepayers expect and deserve. Decisions made by this council may not always be the most popular, but I believe them to be the right decisions to undo decades of neglect in the critical core business of council operations.

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The Truth About Our Waste by Mayor Steve Krieg.