An Armadale councillor who was elected at last month’s Local Government Election said he wanted to prioritise cutting Special Area Rates and investigating bureaucratic bloat within the city.
Jeff Munn was elected to the Ranford Ward, which includes Harrisdale, Haynes, Brookdale and Wungong.
Mr Munn, who after more than 30 years on council is the longest serving Armadale councillor ever, said he wanted to get back into work he had left behind when he last sat on council in 2015.
He said his first motion to council this term was likely to be a proposal to conduct an independent audit of the city to determine if it could be run better.
“What we have to look at is if we are running efficiently as a council,” he said.
“Have we got too many staff, are our departments correct for what they’re doing?”
Mr Munn said he was not accusing the city of being poorly run, but believed it could be advantageous to conduct an audit because he did not believe an independent audit of the city had been conducted in at least 20 years.
Mr Munn also said he wanted to scrap the Special Area Rates applied to new suburbs, which he said had contributed to Harrisdale and Piara Waters residents paying hundreds of dollars more a year than in other suburbs in the Armadale area.
“In Harrisdale and Piara Waters generally we’re paying $500 to $700 more a year than those living in Kelmscott and other areas,” he said.
“Up to $3000 in rates.”
He said scrapping the Special Area Rates, which cost residents up to $100 extra a year on rates and which goes towards maintaining public areas and amenities, would reduce the burden on homeowners.
“We’ve got something like $3 million or $4 million saved up already for repairs and extra works,” he said.
“The bridges, pumps and everything else here are a far more expensive load than in Kelmscott and when they go there’ll be a cost.
“But we’ve got money stashed away to do that sort of work.”
Mr Munn said while a drop in Gross Rental Values recently dropped rates for some residents, more could be done.
“Rates are still a problem, but it isn’t so bad or as bitter as it was two years ago.”
