Nahan Attacks Council Over Resource Centre Debt
RIVERTON MLA Mike Nahan has dismissed claims by the SMRC that the Regional Resource Recovery Centre is cost-neutral as “utterly ridiculous” and said the facility’s overblown budget should be resolved as good business practice.
“Each year, the SMRC looks at the RRRC’s forecast versus actual (budgets) and every year it charges a higher gate fee to be paid by the member councils,” he said.
“Blaming their debt on depreciation in gate fees is just crap.”
Dr Nahan, a staunch opponent of the facility, accused the SMRC of not being transparent about running the RRRC on a “very large” operating deficit for “a number of years”.
“This is the reason why regional councils have high waste disposal costs in the Perth metro area,” he said.
“Declaring that the aims of the RRRC are being met is nonsense and the council is not being forthcoming about its serious financial problem.”
Dr Nahan used the SMRC’s changes to its composting plant following odour complaints as an example of the facility’s high operating costs, which he alleged was higher than anticipated.
Dr Nahan also said the SMRC should focus on paying off its current debt before rebuilding its materials recovery facility after a 30 per cent loss of income caused by two councils withdrawing their memberships.
