Call to dump Burnside from East Waste
Burnside Council should be thrown out of waste management authority East Waste, Campbelltown Mayor Simon Brewer says.
Mr Brewer says Burnside has no right to retain its stake in the council-funded authority as it owes East Waste almost half a million dollars.
“I think we should expel them,” he told a recent council meeting. “It’s a very unfair situation ... everyone else is abiding by the rules of the union and (Burnside) seem to be a special case.”
Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Mayor Robert Bria said Burnside’s behaviour had been “unacceptable”.
Constituent councils have been asked to approve an overdraft of up to $500,000 to ease the authority’s cash flow problems, after Burnside refused to pay its share of costs.
“I hope the overdraft issue sends a message to Burnside that its behaviour has been unacceptable ... it should do the right thing and pay its outstanding amount to relieve East Waste of the financial pressure,” Mr Bria said.
East Waste is owned jointly by Burnside, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters, Campbelltown, Walkerville, Mitcham and Adelaide Hills councils. Burnside’s underpayments sit at $460,000 and are estimated to rise to $760,000 by June 2011.
Burnside argues it is being overcharged and that East Waste changed the terms of its seven-year contract three years ago without the council’s consent.
By Jane Whitford
Source: Eastern Courier
