Thank you Paul Gannon for stating the bleeding obvious. (Echo July 30)
Recently the Local Government Association commissioned a study which revealed that state and federal governments are cost-shifting the costs of services and infrastructure on to local councils and ratepayers to the tune of $1.5b per year for infrastructure and services which are not the responsibility of local governments or ratepayers.
That amounts to $500 per ratepayer or $8m per year being stolen from Byron ratepayers.
Roads and road maintenance is just one of the major cost burdens Byron Shire ratepayers have to suffer since the train service was closed, despite having train stations in the centre of Byron Bay, Mullum and Bangalow within easy walking distance to everything.
The cost of repairing the line in Byron for a train cost just $660,000 per kilometre, but Byron Shire Council and the state government spent $24m on the (mostly empty) Byron by-pass and $12m on just three roundabouts on Ewingsdale Road.
That’s 20 times the cost of repairing the train line to get the commuter train services running and building the rail connection to Coolangatta, to reduce traffic as the politicians promised. The majority of the three million visitors to Byron Shire can get here in a more sustainable, low-emissions manner. As the politicians said ‘we will need more trains and more tourist trains’.
Why is our Byron Council allowing the state government to shift this massive cost of road transport for three million visitors on to sixteen thousand Byron Shire ratepayers? It’s not locals clogging up our streets or hogging all the parking spaces and making our towns unpleasant places for locals and visitors alike.
Despite the billions we’re told tourism brings to the area, on top of GST and billions in stamp duty from the sale of expensive real estate collected by the state government, ratepayers are paying through the nose for things that are the responsibility of state and federal governments.
Then they tell us extending the hours of trading in Byron will be great. Obviously not caring about the consequences for people who drink alcohol having to drive home.
As if ignoring the warnings of scientists that climate disasters will become more frequent and intense – as we’re aware – and we need to urgently reduce our emissions isn’t bad enough, there’s nothing ‘green’ about any of this.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
