John ‘Dodge’ Landers is among ratepayers dismayed by what they see as unjustified rates increases, given what he considers to be a lack of council services to his smallholding 10 kilometres out on Mt Lindesay Rd.
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“I get absolutely no council services whatsoever,” he said.
“I’m 200 metres off the road and I had to put in the gravel access road and maintain it.”
With a few successful businesses under his belt, Mr Landers would like to see a more business-like attitude taken towards the running of council despite it not operating in a supply-and-demand market and therefore at risk of losing ‘customers’ due to price hikes.
Mr Landers said he managed a couple of cane farms at Woodburn which turned over $1.6 million, and it cost him only $250,000 to do so, so he knows what he’s talking about.
He’d like to see a return to the old days when his uncle Terry Landers was town clerk in the 1970’s, with himself, a health inspector, an electrical inspector, ‘and a couple of office girls’ running Tenterfield Municipal Council.
“They need to have a look at why they’re not making money,” he said.
“I’d like to see them have a look at staffing levels in the offices. They’ve got to get out in the real world.”
