The following was written by Greens Mayoral candidate Emma Heyde in response to demands by Parramatta Council for $22 million in cash within seven days from Hornsby Council. 

The amalgamations bungle by Hornsby Council just gets more farcical by the day.

Hornsby Council should bow its head in shame at the financial chaos it is experiencing as a direct result of its inept management of the failed amalgamation.

We’ve now got the absurd situation where two Liberal-dominated Councils are fighting over land and money as the amalgamations mess just gets uglier and more expensive for ratepayers.

On the back of the news that the Council has lost $200 million over ten years, the Councillors voted themselves a pay rise. Given that Hornsby Council staff may be facing job cuts, that decision is grossly inappropriate.

It shows just out of touch with community values this Liberal-dominated council is.

Council can’t keep whinging that the state government is to blame for the budget crisis in Hornsby when it was the loudest cheerleader for the forced amalgamation.

Voters have the opportunity to hold this Liberal-dominated Council accountable for this financial mess come 9 September.