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Hawkesbury City Council’s controversial sell off the Windsor sewage system and the Sewage Loan Refinancing has come under scrutiny after figures from the NSW Auditor-General revealed that the transfer of this local infrastructure to Sydney Water represents a $152.8 million asset write-down for Hawkesbury Council.
The handover covers sewage infrastructure owned and managed by Council that once generated a steady profit for ratepayers before being caught up in an administrative failure to repair a crack in a timely manner in the now infamous Rising C main at Windsor.
Court document tell a story that Council entered into design and construct contract for cost plus 25% contract before seeing the schedule of cost associated with the project and without time frame for works. Council has refused to release its own report into the matter.
At the October Council meeting, the Deputy Mayor Cr McMahon sought to downplay the revelation, assuring residents that the $152.8 million figure was “just an accounting thing,” and that “it’s nothing anyone has done — it’s just some silly person who has said this is how local government has to keep their books.” The person the Deputy Mayor referred to is the NSW Auditor General.
But for local residents, the “accounting thing” carries real-world consequences. Under the deal, Council has taken out a $20 million loan and written off more than $152 million in assets. This means that Windsor’s sewage customers will now shoulder the financial burden repaying the loan over the next decade while facing higher sewage charges than previously expected.
Sydney Water which Council hopes will takes over operation of the system has recently been granted an 11% increase in customer charges by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). That hike will flow directly to households already coping with rising living costs.
Community advocates have questioned how a once self-sustaining piece of public infrastructure could be reduced to a financial liability under this Council’s management and with no responsibility being taken by the administration. The Deputy Mayor insists "blame" lays with the NSW Government failure to recognise the cracked main as being caused by flooding and paying for it. Others say Council's failure to fix the pipe in a timely manner (it took almost 2 years) is what caused the debt and Councillors have avoided taking responsibility for the financial catastrophe.
Image: Poster on fence at Richmond
