Council
11 May, 2026
Community forum responses mixed on Council matters
Bowral’s The Venue was packed to capacity last Tuesday night for a Community Forum hosted by Dr. Raymond Khoury.
Bowral’s The Venue was packed to capacity last Tuesday night for a Community Forum hosted by Dr. Raymond Khoury.
He invited special guests - Wingecarribee Shire Councillors Sara Moylan and Rachel Russell, and community member Anna Phillips, who gave an update on the Repoly case.
Crs. Moylan and Russell both gave their opinions on the potential for rate increases to water, sewerage and council rates, with community submissions due to close this Friday, May 15.
Crs. Moylan and Russell each gave presentations on solutions they felt that council could implement to get them out of what they say are ‘financial difficulties’.
Community members who came were initially shocked to hear in a presentation by Dr. Khoury how much their rates would increase over the next four financial years up until 2030, with audible gasps from audience members and hard questions put to the panel in a question and answer session after the speeches.
One local resident who attended the meeting, Moss Vale’s Ingrid Skirka, stated that she felt there was a general disconnect in communication by Wingecarribee Shire Council’s General Manager, Lisa Miscamble, Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick and the rest of the councillors.
“There seems to be a huge disconnect between information that the General Manager should be giving the Councillors, and the councillors receiving that information in a timely manner or at all,” she told The Southern Wire.
“Isn’t that what she is paid to do?”
Ian Bollen from the Canyonleigh Community Association said he was encouraged by the turnout to the forum, and that there should be more meetings like this.
“The audience was really engaged, and I also felt that Anna Phillips - although constrained by the court process regarding Repoly - was still able to give us a great update,” he told The Southern Wire.
“The lack of understanding of the Repoly proposal by some in the community is interesting – there is a possibility that it could still go ahead.
“I also thought the councillors’ presentations were also very informative, and it just shows the dysfunction and ‘smoke and mirrors’ going on at Council at the moment.”
Mr. Bollen also said that the audience engagement showed that there was a palpable level of anger in the community about the possibility of rates going up.
“Council don’t appear to be communicating their intentions in the right way,” he said.
“They just seem to be ‘hanging their hat’ on the AEC recommendations, rather than conducting a review of their finances – the digging in of their heels about not having Cr. Russell’s suggestion of a finance committee, with external community members who have the qualifications to analyse these financial ineffiencies, seems baffling to me.
“Overall, it just shows the community’s level of distrust in this Council, and that there’s not much hope for the future.”
The next council meeting is set for next Wednesday, 20 May, with the budget likely to be voted on at the June meeting on 17 June.
Read More: Bowral, Southern Highlands