An acrimonious and lengthy debate of council followed the revelation by a member of the public, that council's budget and operational plan for 2020/21 (the current financial year) contained incorrect figures.
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During the meeting on July 22 it was revealed council's general manager Leanne Barnes had not informed all councillors that figures in the 2020/21 budget papers, due for adoption during the meeting, were incorrect.
Instead councillors learned the information during an address to council by Lucas Scarpin - a former financial director at council - who was told by Ms Barnes before the meeting.
Mr Scarpin also revealed he had been told the Long Term Financial Plan would be withdrawn as a result.
Mr Scarpin had planned to address councillors on the figures as they appeared in the business paper because he was concerned it looked as though "council's general fund would run out of money in January 2021".
After being told that the figures were wrong Mr Scarpin decided to give an address anyway.
We are nine people trying to make the right decisions but we are not being given the right information. This just makes us look dysfunctional.
- Cr Robyn Bain
"This doesn't solve the problem, it's just changing the timing. I'm still pretty confident there's a problem and it seems mistakes are the norm," Mr Scarpin said.
"The Long Term Financial Plan has been deferred three times now."
Cr Robyn Bain was furious that councillors discovered the information from a member of the public rather than being informed by the general manager.
"We are nine people trying to make the right decisions but we are not being given the right information. This just makes us look dysfunctional," Cr Bain said.
Cr Mitchell Nadin said it was wrong to find out in the middle of a meeting that the figures were incorrect.
"This isn't a one-off, there's a pattern of behaviour. Figures are consistently wrong; we get mistake, apology, mistake, apology but no accountability," Cr Nadin said.
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But Cr Russell Fitzpatrick said the issues Mr Scarpin mentioned related to "one line".
"Expenditure and income remains the same in our budget and our operational plan as per that. It's one line in the cashflow, the purchase of property, plant and equipment which in our general fund (2020/21) is $65m and in 2021/22 is nearly $42m.
"I believe both those figures are totally wrong and they are the figures that Mr Scarpin alluded to. It doesn't affect our operational plan, that still remains the same," Cr Fitzpatrick said.
The general manager Leanne Barnes apologised to councillors for not getting the information about the figures to them, and said she had been unwell that morning.
Judy Jordan, council's financial officer told councillors that the correction to the figures would mean that instead of being in deficit in the general fund by $15.3m it would be a deficit of $548,000 this year.
In response to a question from Cr Tony Allen Ms Jordan confirmed that there would be a deficit in the general fund for the end of 2019/20 although she wasn't able to say how much at this stage.
The figures aren't lining up and we're all rightly concerned about it. Significant work is needed on the Long Term Financial Plan into the future.
- Cr Kristy McBain
"We still have a cash problem. The cash issue has been brewing for a number of years," Ms Jordan said adding that there was a need to be careful and not repurpose any savings that may be found.
"We need to get this house in order. If we are overspending then we need to rein it in," Cr Allen said.
Cr Kristy McBain said if there were "receivables still due and owing" council needed to be "billing back on point and in a timely manner".
"The figures aren't lining up and we're all rightly concerned about it. Significant work is needed on the Long Term Financial Plan into the future," Cr McBain said.
However she said that to make sure that council kept moving forward and progressed the operational plan and budget she would vote in favour of accepting the document.
Although councillors had not seen the corrected figures for the 2020/21 budget, they voted to accept the document and defer the Long Term Financial Plan to August 5. Councillors Nadin, Bain and Allen voted against the motion.