Carol Altmann – The Terrier

In the cashed-up world of the Warrnambool City Council, a staffer travelling on the road can spend $90 a day on dinner, $40 on lunch and $30 on breakfast, and not have to pay a cent of it.

That’s a total of $160 per person, per day, paid for by you, the ratepayer.

Send five staff members to a conference and bang, you could have up to $800 a day in just food expenses, without adding the accommodation – and the WCC does send five people to the one conference.

I can’t remember the last time I spent $90 for myself on a dinner out, but I suspect I would have had to dress up.

But wait, there’s more. There always is.

This $90 daily dinner limit is part of the council’s new travel policy, drawn up last November, in response to revelations of excessive spending on food and drink on council corporate credit cards.

Did you see the word “new” in there? This is the new policy, not the old.

This, according to the council executive, has tightened things up.

This, according to the council executive, is the council being frugal, cutting costs, saving every dollar it can: good grief, I dare not think what the policy looked like before we started asking questions. (*Update: the new policy has higher limits than the last policy. Go figure.)

It does make you wonder what planet the WCC hierarchy lives on, because for the rest of us, spending $90 for one person on dinner is called “a very special occasion”, not part of a road trip.

Many ratepayers would love to have a breezy $90 to spend each night for dinner and dessert while brushing up on their networking skills, but the truth is, most people could never dream of it.

These are the people I write for.

It is no wonder the WCC hierarchy keeps these policies secret, because remember, we are not allowed to see these “internal” policies even though we fund them.

Fortunately we have other people who want the truth out there.

Because it is clear that those in charge at the council can’t possibly justify this sort of spending by some of its staff while bumping up rates pool by 4.5% this year and the next.

And they can’t possibly justify it while hitting ratepayers and residents with increases in everything from parking fines to pet regos to sports ground fees.

They can’t justify it, but they do it anyway, and that is the disgraceful part of this entire culture of entitlement that I am trying to expose, one eye fillet and one glass of pinot gris at a time.

I can still see the hand-wringing as the council agonised over which services would need to be cut unless it broke the rate cap: childcare, meals on wheels, sweeping the streets?

The 81 corporate credit cards didn’t rate a mention.

And the $160-a-day meal allowance racked up on some of these credit cards didn’t rate a mention. (Note, most WCC staff don’t get to spend these amounts  – the policy is designed to accommodate a select few.)

By the way, the Australian Tax Office suggests a “reasonable” meal allowance while travelling is a maximum of $101 a day, including around $48.60 for dinner.

If you are a big wig earning more than $217,000, the dinner allowance is $70.50. Many councils use the ATO figures as their guide.

The NSW public service is even more frugal.

Up there, public servants can spend a maximum of $53.90 for dinner in a capital city, or $49.60 for the country. What a bunch of soursops they are in the NSW Treasury! No creme brulee for you!

If only it were so funny. For the stressed out souls turning up at Bethany trying to work out a payment plan for their rates, it is far from funny.

South West MP Roma Britnell today used the first day back of Parliament to call for a full and independent investigation into the governance of the Warrnambool City Council.

As this travel policy shows, it can’t happen soon enough.

Again, thankyou to everyone who helps to keep The Terrier digging. You can be part of it by tossing something into the Tip Jar below.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

For weeks now, I have been asked one question about the Warrnambool City Council credit card scandal: is there more?

The answer is yes.

Yes, there is.

From the very beginning, this investigation into credit card use at the Warrnambool City Council has never been about individuals. It is not personal.

This whole investigation has been about exposing an attitude of entitlement and ways of behaving that have operated within certain sections of the council for years, particularly around the office of the executive.

It has been about again exposing a lack of accountability and transparency, coupled with doses of intimidation, that allowed this culture to develop.

So tonight I can tell you that, yes, the issue of credit card spending and the use of public money goes beyond one individual.

It goes beyond the council’s former head of tourism, Mr David McMahon, who as we know resigned as a result of this investigation.

But because of recent threats that have been made against me privately, and against members of my extended family which worries me more, I am not going to name names.

I can tell you, however, that it goes beyond one individual, because I have receipts.

I am now calling upon the Warrnambool City Council to tell ratepayers and residents the whole truth.

It cannot just keep covering up a cover up.

What ratepayers and residents deserve to know is what the council has done since this whole credit card scandal was first uncovered late last year, how much credit card spending has been scrutinised since, what has been found and what is being done about it?

Remember, this is our money – public money.

In light of the recent report by the Victorian Auditor General into fraud and corruption control, the Local Government Minister has called on all 79 councils to review their policies and procedures and report to him by September 1.

There is no more hiding behind closed doors.

We want to know the full story about the 81 credit cards that have been in circulation at the WCC.

What are the spending limits? Who holds them? Have they been used to purchase big dinners, alcohol, lunches, coffees, gift vouchers? For what reason?

I am calling upon the council to tell you what is going on and what has gone on – fully and frankly.

And if it doesn’t, then I am calling upon the good citizens of Warrnambool who may be in a position to whistleblow, to do so loudly.

In pursuing this issue, I have not had a personal axe to grind or any hidden agenda. I am simply doing what journalists do, in trying to get to the truth.

Between us, will get there and – eventually – we will have that truth.

Thankyou to everyone who has made a contribution to the Tip Jar to help keep The Terrier digging. You can be part of it by clicking below.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Here’s something I have been wanting to tell you for a while.

Warrnambool Mayor Tony Herbert was alerted to the big spending by former council tourism manager David McMahon months before he says he was – not in November, but August last year.

How do I know? Because I told him. And he did nothing.

Here’s how things unfolded:

This time almost a year ago – on 22 August 2018 – I asked to meet with Cr Herbert to talk about two very serious things.

The first was an alleged spend-up on a lunch by Mr McMahon using his corporate credit card, and the second was allegations of bullying behaviour by this same person.

The reason I remember this meeting so clearly is that Cr Herbert confirmed he had heard “something about” the big spend up and that it “had been repaid, or was going to be repaid”.

This, to a journalist, is a chunk of gold.

I realised I was on to an important story and so my digging began and it would last almost a year.

Why am I raising this now?

Because the now Mayor Herbert recently made a formal, public statement that he first heard about the credit card mis-use in November as part of mayoral briefing with former CEO Bruce Anson.

The briefing, he said, followed Mr McMahon’s unauthorised spending being picked up by the council in September.

I was somewhat stunned by this version of events and have been waiting to see if Cr Herbert moved to correct the record, maybe even at last Monday’s council meeting, but that hasn’t happened.

Instead, Cr Herbert says he has no recollection of this part of our conversation.

 

(By the way, I will cover the bullying allegations in a later story, because that deserves an entire piece on its own.)

I now consider the 22 August meeting a critical part of the puzzle as to who knew what, when, and most importantly, what was done about it.

Cr Herbert’s version of events is that he called the meeting with me, not the other way around, so we could talk about my writing “more positive stories”. (You can read his response in full at the end of this piece).

The crux of the issue is that last August I raised a serious concern about Mr McMahon’s spending and Cr Herbert – it appears – did nothing about it.

He didn’t raise it with the CEO. He didn’t alert other councillors or the council’s Audit and Risk Committee.

For whatever reason, Cr Herbert didn’t consider this big, red alarm bell worth following up.

 

Mr McMahon’s unauthorised spending was apparently uncovered internally by the council a few weeks later, just by sheer chance.

This whole thing reeks.

And it reeks even more when you consider that once Cr Herbert was told in November – officially – about the credit card misuse, he was dead against my investigating it further.

Readers may remember Cr Herbert’s long Facebook post on Valentine’s Day, February 14, berating me for wasting council’s time and resources:

“All you seem to want to do is tear people down, with unresearched accusations,” he raged.

No, Cr Herbert, I was doing what you were supposed to be doing as an elected official of the people of Warrnambool.

A fortnight ago I notified the other six councillors of my August conversation with Cr Herbert.

There has been not one word in response. Nobody seems to care that Cr Herbert’s public statement is wrong.

A few weeks ago I dropped the f-bomb here: fraud.

Tonight I am going to use the c word: cover up.

Because from go to woah, this whole credit card mess reeks of a cover up.

 

It is now up to the powers-that-be to decide what happens next, because I have done all that I can to open up this particular box of bullshite around Mr McMahon’s credit card use.

Today I submitted a report to the Warrnambool Police. I have already submitted a report to the anti-corruption body, IBAC.

Who knows where those two reports will go?

But the wider credit card scandal doesn’t finish here, because I believe there is more to be exposed, beyond Mr McMahon, even though –  I have to stress – the majority of council staff work hard at saving ratepayers’ money.

What needs to be exposed is the excessive or unjustifiable spending that was signed off by those in charge.

The new CEO Peter Schneider says he is looking at this. The Terrier is too.

It will be a slow burn, but it’s the only way to well and truly clean out the trough.

---

Mayor Herbert’s response to my questions about our 22 August 2018 meeting:

Dear Carol,

Thanks for your email.

I remember the meeting too, which I arranged. 

I had hoped during our meeting to plant the seed/notion, as it were, that “positive leaders can create a positive community and positive communities can accomplish anything”.  I was hoping to encourage you to be that leader.  That was my single aim of the meeting.    

I recall suggesting that people in Warrnambool would prefer more positive stories and those of a community-building nature.  I discussed the relatively negative prior decade on Council and that I was now trying to be part of a team building a more positive council.   

We chatted about what was good, what was coming up with some major projects – since announced in the Reid Oval and the library/learning hub at TAFE. 

As we talked it became clear you were not interested in considering my feedback. 

As the meeting concluded, we laughed and you said that the type of writing I was referring to was best left to The Standard and others and that you had a niche market writing in your particular style and to a particular audience.

Then you left.  

On the matter of the council officer, I don’t recall this being part of our discussions. At that time I would not have had any information about money that had been paid or was to be repaid. Even though I attended the VTIC seminar, I did not know any information on officer spending, councillor spending or spending by others.  I believe that the council credit card statements for August would have come through in September.   You and I met on August 22. 

For your further information, I have checked with the Finance Department today: Councillors/Mayors have never had credit cards at WCC.    

I was unaware of the said officer either having a credit card or not having a credit card at the VTIC seminar.  As Councillors, we have not been presented with a list of all credit cards in the organisation. 

I trust this answers your questions and I look forward to you moving onto more positive stories for our community.

Regards,

Tony Herbert

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Warrnambool City Council may be wishing the whole credit card mess would just dissolve into the background, but that is not going to happen.

Ratepayers Victoria has today sent a powerful letter to the Local Government Minister, urging him to intervene.

The letter, a copy of which has been sent to local media, pulls no punches as it describes the need for an “urgent investigation” into the serious allegations around misconduct and inappropriate use of public money.

Ratepayers Victoria is the peak body representing ratepayers across the state.

The WCC may be clinging to the days of keeping its messy secrets tucked behind closed doors, but outsiders are determined to fling up the windows.

Local MP Roma Britnell has already flagged her intention to raise the issue in Parliament after it resumes on August 14 – a move which saw WCC chief Peter Schneider and Mayor Tony Herbert race to cut her off at the pass by trying to get to the Minister first. This letter reveals that they met with his chief of staff.

Importantly, the letter also raises concerns about the long-term financial viability of the council, saying it is unsustainable to have 86% of rate revenue spent on staffing costs.

I will let this letter speak for itself and run it in full below:

A letter from Ratepayers Victoria to Local Government Minister The Hon Adem Somyurek:

 

We write in reference to some serious allegations circulating in the media in relation to WCC and alleged misconduct.

Several local councillors have made media commentary that we would consider to be contrary of the Local Government Act and the Code of Conduct of Councillors.

There is already evidence of at least one staff member misusing their senior position and corporate credit card resulting in the repayment of thousands of dollars of public money.

It is now being reported that there are current staff holding other external senior positions whilst remaining the incumbent in senior WCC roles.

Media coverage indicates a potential dysfunctional relationship between councillors and conflicting statements by several parties to the events.

I am also aware that the Local Member, Roma Britnell, has been looking into this matter.

I have personally spoken to the Mayor and whilst I found him open to discussion, I was alarmed at the indifference he displayed to my questioning over the sheer number of credit cards held by staff for a regional council.

As you may be aware the Mayor went on local radio (3YB FM) on Friday 2/8/19 and conducted an interview making statements such as “I’m putting my neck out and it gets cut off all the time”, “What in the hell am I putting myself and my family through” and “The CEO has seen the local government minister”.

We do not believe these statements are consistent with the best interests of the community. We believe that the CEO has not met with you personally, rather with your chief of staff and it is misleading of the mayor to say such things on local radio.

This council has recently sought and been successful at gaining an increase in rates above the 2.5% cap.

Approximately 86% of rates are allocated to employee costs in WCC’s 2019/2020 budget. This is commercially unsustainable and must be benchmarked and reviewed immediately. (See attached for your reference)

We believe that WCC is in peril and that failing intervention, an administrator may need to be appointed which is a disastrous outcome for the city and ratepayers.

Ratepayers Victoria formally asks you as the governing Minister to urgently intervene and investigate these serious allegations including councillor and executive conduct and the inappropriate use of public funds.

We urge you to formally ask the Auditor General to review all council staff credit card expenditure to ensure confidence can be maintained in Council and its spending of public monies.

Lastly, we ask you to consider investigating whether the “alleged reporting by the CEO” of credit card misuse met the legal requirements of same.

We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Dean Hurlston

President- Ratepayers Victoria

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Why on earth is the Warrnambool City Council persisting with its decision to whack dozens of pet owners with $330 fines for failing to re-register their pets on time?

What possible justification can there be for demanding such an exorbitant fine – the maximum set by the state – even once the owner has paid the overdue bill?

One answer might be simple bloody mindedness and greed.

The council won’t talk about it, but I believe more than 250 pet owners – most of them dog owners because they are the easiest to catch – have been hit with these extraordinary fines and final demands for payment or the threat of court action.

If you do the math, this is around $82,000 the council stands to make in fines.

Those facing fines include the most vulnerable, including pensioners where the fine is almost 10 times the cost of the registration.

 

And pensioners have been hit.

As have new parents, and those who simply forgot, or those who were pre-occupied with other things in life and, of course, a few who decided they didn’t want to be fleeced $70 for having done the right thing and registered their pet in the first place.

Because this fine is not for failing to register your pet, but for failing to re-register it.

And bad luck if you have done the right thing for each of the past 10 years, sorry, that doesn’t count.

The cost of pet registrations shot up this year because of a lop-sided and extremely expensive contract with the RSPCA to run the animal shelter.

Warrnambool’s pet regos are now the second most expensive in Australia for a desexed pet.

So it doesn’t matter if you have desexed your pet, microchipped and registered it, if you failed to pay your rego on time, the $330 hammer will fall.

It is completely over the top and, worse, it is random.

Some people have been lucky enough to plead their case successfully and had the fine wiped.

Others, who have equally compelling circumstances, have been told, sorry, mate, your lucky day is not today.

This is not how to treat a community.

If the council wonders why people are so angry, this is it – this heavy handed, bloody mindedness that comes on top of a 4.5% rate rise which nobody wants or deserves.

 

There are options.

One is to do what Melbourne City Council does – that little town further east of us – and offer a late penalty of $15. That’s right, $15. See the snapshot for the MCC website below:

Perhaps, like what happens with your gas, and electricity, and rates, this late penalty could increase each month until you make payment.

(I have paid overdue power bills before and never has it cost me $330 in fines.)

The other thing the council could do, right now, is offer an amnesty.

Call a truce, wipe the slate clean and give people a chance – not only those who have already done the right thing and re-registered their pet, but those who haven’t.

It is the latter group that need the most incentive to sign on.

 

Drop the $330 fines. Encourage everyone to register their pet by making it affordable, if not free, for the rest of this year.

Introduce a $15 late penalty when re-registrations are due next year.

Throw in some free doggy bags, a leash, or a cat collar for those who pay on time.

In other words, create incentives to make the RSPCA less busy, not more.

As it stands, not only will the RSPCA be busy, but so will the Magistrates’ Court, where all 250-plus pet owners who have paid their rego but still been fined, could choose to challenge the point of it all. I reckon they have a good case.

And how would the WCC make up the shortfall from all of those juicy, $330, money-for-jam fines?

Well, here’s just one idea: look at the photo below.

That’s right, four racehorses in a row, who were barrelling along Lady Bay foreshore a couple of weeks ago, in breach of the rules, yet again (#notalltrainers).

Do you know how many fines have been issued to the Warrnambool Racing Club by the WCC despite multiple breaches of the rules since 2016?

None.

Zero.

Nada.

So there is one rule for the pet owners of Warrnambool and another for racehorses which, I think we could safely argue, are far more of a risk to public safety than Pixie the poodle hanging out on the couch.

I asked Barry the Bull Terrier Boolshite detector what he thought of all this.

Barry gave it a perfect 10.

 

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