A COUNCIL that I lead will work diligently to ensure that not a dollar of expenditure is wasted. In every business that I’ve managed I’ve treated the company’s funds as if they were my own, making sure that nothing was spent unnecessarily, and that I always got value for money.

Council spending is no different. At Budget time my Council will deliver effective spending of rates for every Sunshine Coast resident. My major goal is to ensure that rates are kept as low as possible – hopefully with no increase at all, but if that’s not possible, then certainly no increase above CPI.

One of the first things I do after being elected mayor will be to call for a full review of Council’s financial position. Until that is known it’s irresponsible to go on about spending large sums on new initiatives.

But I will focus on the Council’s legacy projects, nominating any anti-competitive behaviour and with a view to achieving economic utility on the Coast.

My Council will only borrow to fund lasting public assets, and we’ll borrow to fund other projects only if they are able to generate sufficient income to pay for themselves. Competition policy will continue to be applied when Council competes in the private market.

Councillors and candidates have come up with some novel approaches to Council finances. Under my leadership, no idea will be off the table if it leads to cost of living relief for Sunshine Coast residents.