Share the blame

IN RESPONSE to last week’s letter titled “Enough of this council waste” by Andrew McNabb.
While I fully support the idea of reducing our council’s debt and subsequent burden to all ratepayers, I would like to remind Mr McNabb and others that the councillors he wishes to terminate were all elected by residents who voted for them.
I would tend to cast my gaze and discontent further afield, perhaps to the CEO and his management team and ask the question, are these the right people for their jobs?
Surely the questions have to be asked – under his leadership, how much has the council debt increased? And are we getting value for money with him and his leadership team?
Personally, I am more concerned about the people we don’t vote for, who are spending our money and influencing our lives rather than those elected by the people and for the people.
I think it’s fair to say that our dubious title of most indebted council (to the tune of whatever the figure may be) was not an overnight success by any means and has been the culmination of several years of mismanagement, albeit financial or otherwise.
While I’m sure it’s fun spending other peoples monies, those of us who run household budgets or similar, realise that you can’t or shouldn’t spend what you don’t have and that’s why they’re called budgets.
This idea of going into heavy debt, then crying poor and going “cap in hand” to the state or federal government for financial assistance is wishful thinking and short-sighted at best.
If these people in those senior positions are not being regularly reviewed (like our councillors) then maybe, just maybe, that is where the problem resides.
David Connor,
Pakenham.