Rural City of Wangaratta (RCOW) to drop their aged care support services - surprise, surprise. No not really to me as I have had an inkling for some time this was to happen, albeit it earlier than I anticipated. In my previous Letter to The Editor, I stressed the importance of making sure your statements matched the services provided. I received new statements from the Rural City for November and December with the notations (to be corrected) but here we are at June 30th and still no communication about them being fixed. The new system is now eight months old and I personally don't have any idea whether I have anything left in the package or am required to pay an amount to compensate the council for services rendered. My January to April statements indicate my expenses, but not my running balance. And you wonder why I have sourced another provider to ensure I stay within the amount of my package. If the RCOW are receiving 10 per cent of the packages from the 160 odd using their service, outsourcing your services and charging a hefty percentage on top of these charges, there has to be something wrong with their accounting. If I have a payment of $90 to my provider, when it gets to RCOW they are adding more than 50 per cent to the account - $47.63 to be exact. Ken Clarke, Wangaratta New charges for recycling at tip is short-sighted Re: new recycling charges by RCOW at the tip. I was shocked to be told on Wednesday 1 July that it was no longer free to drop some recycling items in. I'm especially concerned about the soft plastics charge as surely we need to keep this from landfill. These further charges must contribute to inappropriate disposal of household items on roadsides and in the bush, especially 'flytipping' which is an environmental disaster, so why please RCOW? The waste bins have also been removed from the toilets at Everton and the free camp reserve at Pioneer Bridges as council said on enquiry that everyone can take their waste with them, and they are welcome to take it to the tip (where they'll be charged). What does council spend on cleaning up flytipped waste annually, or is it just left there? Susan Grey, Everton Upper One year on, the ESVF tax dragon is only sleeping This week marks one year since the Victorian Government's Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy came into effect, and rural communities are being urged not to give up the fight against the flawed tax. Farmers and some other rural landholders are currently benefiting from a levy waiver, which makes it feel like this issue has gone away. But that's just an election-year fix so the government can sidestep community angst. Labor remains committed to imposing this bad tax in full if it wins the election. The dragon isn't dead, it's just sleeping. Unless the law is changed, regional and rural Victorians could once again face substantial increases when temporary waivers and carveouts expire. Rural Councils Victoria has long urged Labor to go back to the drawing board and design a levy that spreads the responsibility of raising funds for the CFA and other emergency service bodies more fairly. Leading into the November state election, both the Coalition and One Nation have pledged to scrap the ESVF levy in its current form. However, neither political group has detailed its alternative funding model for emergency services. Whoever takes power in November, the ESVF will need to be revisited. The problem is not fixed. It's just been kicked into the long grass. Everybody agrees our emergency services should be funded properly. But that money must also be raised fairly and sustainably. Cr Rob Amos, Rural Councils Victoria chair
