An email titled “Councils to dump RFS control on State” was sent to VFFA members on the 7th June 2012 and we were wondering if anything has changed since that email. Perhaps it’s worth considering this issue and the NSW RFS expenditure as we prepare for the State Elections.
Our email made reference to a newspaper article reporting that many Local Governments wanted to walk away from an involvement with the RFS.
The original article was publish in The Land newspaper. Click HERE or logo above to have a look at the original article.
In the article, Councillor Donald said “This conference decision is about the ineffective interaction with RFS management, and councils are sick of working through the muddied waters of the costly RFS administration”.
In the last 5 years the running costs of the NSW RFS have increased by approx. 86 Million and staff numbers have increased by 163.
The total expenses budget for 2013 to 2014 was $331.116 Million (Ref: Page 9, NSW RFS – Annual Report 2013/14)
It is worth noting that there are many “Rural Districts”, Teams and Zones that struggle to keep volunteers fully equipped with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) whilst the service continues to spend it’s already bloated budget on helicopters and other big ticket items.
Don’t rely on this article have a look through the financial reports for yourself (see link below)
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/resources/publications/annual-reports