Peter Harle JP
Councillor
There appears to be deliberate misinformation being spread regarding Liverpool City Councils’ new Civic Place incorporating its Administration Centre.
The implication that rate money will be needed to pay for Civic Place is simply not true.
Ratepayers are not being informed of the savings that will occur when Administration Staff move from their current three locations to Civic Place in 2024.
Leasing costs to Council of 35 Scott Street are around $2M pa, leasing out the remainder of its Administration buildings in 33 Moore Street, 1 Hoxton Park road and the current Library buildings are expected to generate an income of more than $10M.
When these savings and lease incomes are added up it is more than the estimated annual $11.3M loan repayments required to pay off the $177M 20year loan. Hence no assets need to be sold. Overall, Council is far better off financially with Civic Place than without it.
Another factor not considered above, is the income from leasing a substantial portion Civic Place that Council at this stage does not need. It amounts to future proofing Councils’ needs for decades to come.
Also, keep in mind that the loan is not being paid from ratepayers’ rates; hence it does not have a direct impact on Councils’ cost of services, despite the misinformation posted in Social Media now and prior to previous Council Elections.
The main reason for Liverpool City Councils’ deficit is due to the impact of Covid 19 and remedial action Council took to save businesses and ratepayers from extreme hardship. Those steps negatively impacted Councils’ finances by some $15M, as it did every Council in Australia.
Liverpool Council is in a much better financial position than most of our neighbouring Councils, consequently Council managed its finances very well despite the deliberate misinformation previously presented in the Media.
(Info here: Minute Item Attachments of Ordinary Meeting – Wednesday, 25 May 2022 (infocouncil.biz)
and here: https://lcit.com.au/an-inconvenient-truth/
and from Council:
Liverpool Civic Place | Liverpool City Council (nsw.gov.au)
As a Councillor in 2021, I fully supported Civic Place despite some Councillors negativity; it is the most outstanding project Council has ever embarked upon in the CBD despite the challenges of Covid 19. It will be an iconic Administration Centre that Liverpool residents can be extremely proud of and at no cost to them.
Councillor Peter Harle JP
May 2023.