THERE is a whiff already surrounding Orange City Council’s decision to move to fortnightly garbage collections and it is not nappies that are on the nose, but red herrings.
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Residents have been faced this week with two controversial decisions, both of which are tied up in the budget that is on display and capable of being heavily modified, but they should be dealt with separately, and on their merits.
They are, of course, the plan to cut red bin collections from weekly to fortnightly and council’s purchase and redevelopment of the old base hospital site in Dalton Street.
Though the change to garbage services will be a major inconvenience to some residents, particularly those who are unwilling to try and change their waste disposal habits, it is the redevelopment of the hospital that has the potential to be the making of the heart of the city or, quite literally, the breaking of the budget.
If the latter were to happen that could have far more impact on other capital works and on rates than increasing charges in the garbage contract. However there is no evidence yet that it is likely.
The trap that residents and councillors should avoid is lumping the two together and confusing the issues which need to be discussed.
On that score two councillors are not off to a good start. Councillors Kevin Duffy and Glenn Taylor have come out against changes to the garbage service, which they see as a backward step.
Knowing, as they should, what the financial impact of not reducing the frequency of the garbage collection would be and knowing the dim view the state government takes of not running services on a realistic cost recovery basis, it is a bit rich to try and link the garbage service and the hospital site.
They are quite entitled to take a strong stand against both decisions, but they should fight these two policies on their respective pro and cons, not by making connections which are tenuous at best.
