COUNCIL NEWS
A HELPING hand for rural ratepayers will continue for a while longer.
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At Oberon Council's December meeting, council resolved to extend its reduced rate for potable drinking water (for use only within the Oberon local government area) for rural and non-residential ratepayers for three months, with monthly monitoring of its use.
The reduced rate is 55 cents per kilolitre (down from the standard residential rate of $2.92).
It followed council’s resolution at its May 15, 2018 ordinary meeting to offer the reduced rate for the potable drinking water.
Council then resolved to extend the subsidy for a further three months at its August 21, 2018 ordinary meeting.
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From November 13, 2018 to December 10, 2018, according to council, total water sales were 105,000 litres allocated between three customers.
A total of $57.75 was spent under the assistance program from a potential residential water charge of $306.60.
However, under the standard fees and charges for the sale of water from the existing standpipe for domestic water (being $5.80 per thousand litres), the cost is $609, according to council.
Council says this is a saving to the community of $551.25.
Since the introduction of the drought water subsidy in May, a total of 1,858,000 litres of water have been purchased, according to council.
The total spent under the assistance program was $1022.90 from a potential residential water charge of $5435.26.
The total fee that would have been collected under the standard fees and charges for water from the standpipe would have been $10,776.40, so the total savings to the community since the introduction of this policy is $9755.50, council says.
TESTING POLICY
In November, council endorsed its Drug and Alcohol Policy 2119 in its entirety after consultation with staff.
Council says an error in relation to testing was found in the submitted documents.
The current version of the policy reads: “Testing will be undertaken by external providers who meet the current requirements contained within AS4760 and AS3547”. But it should read: “Testing will be undertaken by internal trained and accredited personnel or external providers who meet the current requirements.”
This internal process of testing has been conveyed to the WHS committee.
