Big Trouble Ahead for the ACTs Budget ?

Oh goodie!
We are going to have our own budget crisis.
I am really annoyed that the Feds are giving our government a loan.

Sounds like the ACT is going to need a big loan!!

dungfungus said :

Garfield said :

watto23 said :

I know they put on hold the proposed city stadium, due to My fluffy. I still think the feds should stump up the money, but I’m wondering just how much Mr Fluffy will cost the government.

They are going to buy the properties back at market rates. Cleanse the blocks and then sell them. there is no doubt a cleared block in many of the inner suburbs will fetch a lot more money than what they paid for them. Even in Kambah a cleared block of land most likely will be subdivided into 2 blocks and sold, or sold to developers. So just how much will it really cost them? If the 1 billion is the cost of cleansing then $1million per property to clean seems very excessive!

My understanding is that the net cost to the ACT budget is expected to be $2-300m. Legal battles with residents not happy about the proposed solution could increase that. The $1b is intended to buy the properties from the owners, at market value as though they were not contaminated, and get them scraped bare, then the blocks will be subdivided and sold.

The sensible thing to put on hold as a result of Mr Fluffy would have been the light rail rather than the convention centre. The light rail will be an additional net drain on the ACT budget of $70m+ p.a. while the convention centre would bring extra revenue to the ACT.

The new convention centre is just another pipe dream. We don’t need it and it would mean we would have to compete directly with all the mainland state capitals who all have direct international air connections. Just like emails are putting letter-posts out of business, the internet is making convention centres redundant.

Yes in many case but the feds have killed the NBN and while skype might work from many users home computers, the reliability to run an important teleconference from anywhere just doesn’t exist right now.

Anyway I don’t think we need a convention centre, just saying we could build one, plus a new stadium (which i think would be good), new pool, again also needed and parts of the city to the lake. Plus more could all be built for the cost of light rail which will run marginally quicker than a bus and be just as inconvenient! Build light rail, but make it a rapid intercity service.

“Just how much longer can this apparently teflon coated ACT Government avoid the inevitable – to be held accountable for their economic & fiscal decision making and expenditure priorities.”

Quite a bit longer, I would guess – particularly with the benefit of the anti-Abbott fear and loathing in Canberra, which will surely only increase over the two years until the next ACT election.

If anything, the Mr Fluffy expenditure may end up being used as a cover for overspending in other areas – with any questioning or criticism being met by a glib “oh yes, there is a deficit, but we had to deal with the Mr Fluffy disaster (and those nasty Feds only gave us a loan) etc. etc.”.

Garfield said :

watto23 said :

I know they put on hold the proposed city stadium, due to My fluffy. I still think the feds should stump up the money, but I’m wondering just how much Mr Fluffy will cost the government.

They are going to buy the properties back at market rates. Cleanse the blocks and then sell them. there is no doubt a cleared block in many of the inner suburbs will fetch a lot more money than what they paid for them. Even in Kambah a cleared block of land most likely will be subdivided into 2 blocks and sold, or sold to developers. So just how much will it really cost them? If the 1 billion is the cost of cleansing then $1million per property to clean seems very excessive!

My understanding is that the net cost to the ACT budget is expected to be $2-300m. Legal battles with residents not happy about the proposed solution could increase that. The $1b is intended to buy the properties from the owners, at market value as though they were not contaminated, and get them scraped bare, then the blocks will be subdivided and sold.

The sensible thing to put on hold as a result of Mr Fluffy would have been the light rail rather than the convention centre. The light rail will be an additional net drain on the ACT budget of $70m+ p.a. while the convention centre would bring extra revenue to the ACT.

The new convention centre is just another pipe dream. We don’t need it and it would mean we would have to compete directly with all the mainland state capitals who all have direct international air connections. Just like emails are putting letter-posts out of business, the internet is making convention centres redundant.

Garfield said :

watto23 said :

I know they put on hold the proposed city stadium, due to My fluffy. I still think the feds should stump up the money, but I’m wondering just how much Mr Fluffy will cost the government.

They are going to buy the properties back at market rates. Cleanse the blocks and then sell them. there is no doubt a cleared block in many of the inner suburbs will fetch a lot more money than what they paid for them. Even in Kambah a cleared block of land most likely will be subdivided into 2 blocks and sold, or sold to developers. So just how much will it really cost them? If the 1 billion is the cost of cleansing then $1million per property to clean seems very excessive!

My understanding is that the net cost to the ACT budget is expected to be $2-300m. Legal battles with residents not happy about the proposed solution could increase that. The $1b is intended to buy the properties from the owners, at market value as though they were not contaminated, and get them scraped bare, then the blocks will be subdivided and sold.

The sensible thing to put on hold as a result of Mr Fluffy would have been the light rail rather than the convention centre. The light rail will be an additional net drain on the ACT budget of $70m+ p.a. while the convention centre would bring extra revenue to the ACT.

Yeah I read that the land will cost $412 mill and the cleanup/houses cost another $338 mill. Seriously though the government will sub divide many of those blocks or better yet if 2 blocks are next to each other merge them and sell them to developers. If they don’t get say $600-700 mill back then they are doing something wrong. I realise the current housing climate in Canberra isn’t great, but these blocks are in established suburbs and probably mostly in desirable locations.

I want light rail, but not at any cost and given a new stadium, pool, convention centre and a lot of the city to the lake could have been built for less than the light rail which is going to be slow as a bus anyway.

watto23 said :

I know they put on hold the proposed city stadium, due to My fluffy. I still think the feds should stump up the money, but I’m wondering just how much Mr Fluffy will cost the government.

They are going to buy the properties back at market rates. Cleanse the blocks and then sell them. there is no doubt a cleared block in many of the inner suburbs will fetch a lot more money than what they paid for them. Even in Kambah a cleared block of land most likely will be subdivided into 2 blocks and sold, or sold to developers. So just how much will it really cost them? If the 1 billion is the cost of cleansing then $1million per property to clean seems very excessive!

My understanding is that the net cost to the ACT budget is expected to be $2-300m. Legal battles with residents not happy about the proposed solution could increase that. The $1b is intended to buy the properties from the owners, at market value as though they were not contaminated, and get them scraped bare, then the blocks will be subdivided and sold.

The sensible thing to put on hold as a result of Mr Fluffy would have been the light rail rather than the convention centre. The light rail will be an additional net drain on the ACT budget of $70m+ p.a. while the convention centre would bring extra revenue to the ACT.

Clearly the Liberals claims of Labor planning to increase rates threefold were wrong.
The reality is that rates will have to be quintupled to get the Territory out of the poo.
Barr needs to present the exact state of finances – especially contingencies such as can the ACT public service superannuation fund cover payouts that will surely come when the retrenchments start.

I know they put on hold the proposed city stadium, due to My fluffy. I still think the feds should stump up the money, but I’m wondering just how much Mr Fluffy will cost the government.

They are going to buy the properties back at market rates. Cleanse the blocks and then sell them. there is no doubt a cleared block in many of the inner suburbs will fetch a lot more money than what they paid for them. Even in Kambah a cleared block of land most likely will be subdivided into 2 blocks and sold, or sold to developers. So just how much will it really cost them? If the 1 billion is the cost of cleansing then $1million per property to clean seems very excessive!

I’m having flashbacks to Wayne Swan promising a surplus despite the wave breaking on his head. There is a lot of fat that can be cut in the ACT Government particularly in the corporate services and education. We have assets we can sell off too. My perception however is this government might be a bit too old and tired for a rigorous shake-up.