The Eurobodalla Shire Council was formed in 1913 with the responsibility for administering local government functions along 110 kilometres of the NSW coast between Durras and Wallaga Lake. The Council administers only about 30% of the area of the Shire as the remaining 70% is non-rateable crown land held as national park and state forest: 40% of the shire is national park, 30% is state forest, 20% is productive farmland and 10% is urban settlement.
The Shire is unusual in that nearly half of ratepayers are non-residents. Just over 17% of ratepayers are residents of Canberra. Although the permanent population is around 34,100, the visiting population (who stay more than 3 nights) is 3.1 million per year.
The Council's management lost millions through its investments in derivatives on top of all the other inefficiencies endemic in all forms of government. Now they want the local ratepayers to pay for their stupidities through a huge increase in rates.
A group of local people got together to hold the Council accountable. I heard them on the lccal radio and thought I'd give them a bit of moral support by phoning in to say "Goodonya" - and was promptly roped in to do their website.
So I got busy and registered what I hope is a catchy domain name - www.letushaveoursay.org - and designed several webpages. A few days of typing and it's all done! Here it is!
P.S. They also tried to sign me up for their Management Committee but I don't want to get involved in grubby politics, be it local, state, or federal.
