Inner West Labor votes down transparency on rates policy

By WENDY BACON

Inner West Labor shut down a push by Independent and Greens Councillors for transparency about policies that apply to people who fail to pay their rates to the Inner West Council. 

Independent Councillor John Stamolis moved a motion at the August meeting of the Inner West Council (IWC) calling for councillors to be briefed on Council’s rates hardship policy and any other policies Council is applying in decision to defer the payment of rates. The motion also called for councillors to be provided with information about reasons for deferring rates outside the hardship policy; the numbers of ratepayers who have accessed Council’s rates hardship policy and rates deferral agreements for each of the past 3 years and the amounts deferred.

In supporting the motion, Greens Councillor Justine Langford added an amendment requesting officers to provide regular annual briefings to Councillors on rates that were outstanding, subject to recovery, written off or subject to deferral agreements. She said that she understood that this sort of briefing used to occur at Marrickville and Leichhardt Councils before amalgamation. These sort of briefings allowed Councillors to be understand how the payment of rates were tracking in a way that respected the confidentiality of those who had not paid rates. 

Rates are the means by which Councils fund their regular activities and apply to all landholders and businesses leases that are rateable. There are understandable situations where home owners are unable to pay rates on time, such as if they become unemployed for an extended period or are living on income support. In these situation, Councils need guidelines for deferring rates. Councillors have a role in considering the level of rates.

Stamolis motion followed media reports that the Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne owed $15,000 or more in rates on a property in East Balmain that he inherited from his family five years ago. In addition to this property, he has a 50% ownership of another property in the Inner West. In June, Byrne told the Daily Telegraph that he had “entered into a payment plan” to pay the rates plus interest after the property is sold and that this was “normal council process for dealing with ­deceased estates.” City Hub has previously revealed the contents of an email sent by the ex-General Manager Brian Barrett in March last year in which he told Byrne that recovery proceedings would not be taken because he understood that Byrne was selling the house and would pay the rates in ‘the foreseeable future’. He made no mention of the payment plan. Councillors to whom City Hub spoke have no awareness of a ‘deceased estates policy’ or if it is  ‘normal policy’.

The policies are important because according to the NSW Local Government Code of Conduct, Councillors dealing with Councils in a personal capacity ( for example, as a ratepayer) cannot be treated in any preferential way or do anything that could lead members of the public to think that they are expecting preferential treatment. In other words, they must be treated the same as every other member of the public. Byrne referred to a policy but Councillors have been left in a position where they do not know the content of the policy or how it has been applied in Byrne’s case.

In support of his motion, Stamolis argued that media coverage of the Mayor’s situation showed that Councillors need to be better informed about the rates hardship policy and other rates deferral policies. He considers this information to be a key part of Councillors oversight of a policy that affects residents.  “All Councillors need to be across these policy settings, especially at times like this with quickly rising interest rates and with inflation at the highest in decades,” he argued.

Greens Councillor Justine Langford seconded the motion and spoke briefly in support of her amendment. She told City Hub, ” If residents or businesses are struggling to pay their rates, as their local elected representative I want to know. I want to ensure that Council is doing whatever it can to assist. I’m a ratepayer myself. I am concerned at the level of rate rises since the forced Council merger. The last few years have been particularly tough for people, with rising costs of living. If an increasing proportion of residents and businesses are struggling, this is a problem that needs closer examination by Council.”

Acting Mayor Labor Councillor ​​Jessica D’Arienzo, who was chairing the meeting, asked for speakers against the motion. 

There was a brief silence after which she put the motion to a vote. 

Seven councillors, including five Greens Councillors and two Independents John Stamolis and Pauline Lockie, voted in support of the motion. Seven Labor Councillors voted against. With the vote tied, Deputy Mayor used her extra casting vote to defeat the motion. 

That was the end of Councillors or the public knowing anything more about the rates deferral policies – at least for the time being.

Asked for her reaction, Greens Councillor Justine Langford told City Hub, “As a Councillor, it is my duty to ensure that residents have confidence in our Council and that Council applies any special arrangements for rates deferral in a way that is consistent and transparent and compliant with the Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW. Transparency is vital to maintaining trust and integrity in our local democracy.

Stamolis believes the public are entitled to know the policies that allow a key public figure not to pay his rates. “Our community will be shocked to learn that Labor voted down a motion which would provide core information to Councillors about how our hardship policy is working and what other rates deferral policies are in place at Inner West Council.”

“Media articles have reported that Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne has not paid his Council rates for 5 or more years on one of his properties. As such, it is clearly not a good look for Labor to close down information and briefings on rates deferral policy,” Stamolis says.

We can only assume that Labor Councillors do not agree. City Hub wonders what reasons Labor Councillors had for their unanimous decision that Councillors should not be briefed about the policies. The Code of Conduct prohibits a caucus that bind councillors to a particular view in a vote. But nevertheless, we assume the seven Labor councillors discussed the motion and came voluntarily to the same shared view. Do they already know the policies?  Perhaps the Mayor has privately briefed them on how they were applied in his case. Whatever their reasons for voting down the motion, they chose not to share them.

We asked Labor Councillor Matt Howard if he could explain his reasons for voting against the motion but but we got no acknowledgement of receipt or a response. ( If we do hear back from him, we will add his response.)

Labor uses majority to control debate

The 2021 election for the Inner West was a close contest. The Liberals previously had two Councillors but endorsed none in 2021. In what is now one of the most politically progressive areas of Australia, there was a swing away from Liberal aligned candidates and the Independent Victor Macri also narrowly lost. The result was that Labor now controls the Inner West Council with eight Councillors against five Greens and two Independents. This given Labor the power to vote down initiatives coming from the Greens or Independents which they have used on several occasions this year.

By adopting that strategy on this occasion, they shored up the position of the Mayor who is also currently subject to complaints that there were gaps in his disclosure of interest form. But by voting down a call for more information, they also reinforced the impression that the Inner West Council continues to be less transparent and accessible to the public than the smaller Councils that preceded it and that Labor supports this approach.

Is the amalgamated Council less transparent?

This impression of a loss of accountability is one of the factors that contributed to more than 60% of voters in a 2021 poll supporting deamalgamtion. “Council should be transparent, inclusive and committed to serving residents. Any special financial deals made for the Mayor would go completely against this principle.” says Pip Hinman, spokesperson for Residents for Deamalgamation.

The Mayor was on holidays overseas at the time of the meeting. It is possible that Byrne  has paid his rates since his return. While he was away, his Creek Street property was on the market but failed to sell at auction. It is now advertised for sale for $1.8 million.

Byrne also failed to acknowledge questions on this and other matters. It may be that he believes that his debts and whether he will pay them is a private matter.

Private individuals are entitled to keep their financial affairs private unless they end up in the courts. But when a Mayor owes thousands of dollars to the Council over which he/she/they preside, many would argue it becomes a matter of  public interest rather than a purely private matter. 

This is one of a series of articles on transparency and accountability on the Inner West Council. You can read the other articles here and here. Peter Hehir raised questions about whether these stories were being suppressed here. Follow our coverage as we continue with the series. Wendy Bacon was previously the Professor of Journalism at UTS. She is not a member or donor of any political party. She supported Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore in the City of Sydney election in 2019.