Government prepared to consider reform of Local Councils Association

The government was prepared to consider wide-ranging reforms of the Local Councils Association which would include not just the method of election of its members but also its powers, its funding and the way it functioned, Justice and Local Government Minister Austin Gatt has told parliament.

The minister was concluding the debate on a bill amending the Local Councils Act. The main purpose of the bill is to introduce a mechanism which the Local Councils Department would implement whenever council accounts went into deficit.

Dr Gatt said the debate had reflected the agreement reached between the government and the opposition on local councils in the Public Accounts Committee.

He was always careful when speaking in parliament not to politicise arguments on local councils. Consensus built over the years could be easily destroyed by partisan comments. This would not benefit local councils.

In this context, a remark by an Opposition MP that Nationalist-run councils were famous for running up deficits were not beneficial to anyone. Indeed, this remark was not even correct and Labour councils had as many deficits as Nationalist-run ones.

Today the record was held by Labour councils. According to the latest unaudited accounts, the Labour councils of Cospicua, Xewkija and Zebbug had a deficit along with the councils of Mosta and Ghasri. The only councils which were ever in a state of bankruptcy were those of Paola and Ta' Xbiex. Clearly, therefore, this was not a political issue.

It was clear that councils were forced to run up deficits as elections approached, and the bill now included a provision against it.

His point was that common sense had led to consensus on local councils and care should be taken for this to be preserved even during election fever, not least because people then needed to work together in their respective localities.

Dr Gatt referred to disagreements which surfaced during the adoption of a unanimous report on "the way forward for local councils" during a meeting of mayors. He did not think that the disagreement was actually over the contents of the report. There could have been wider political interests that went beyond local councils. But one needed to look forward. If there was basic agreement on the report, all should work together to implement it.

It was clear that the problem was on reforming the method of election of the Association of Local Councils.

The government was prepared to discuss any reform. If the general secretaries of the two parties couldn't meet over this matter, couldn't it be handled by the association itself?

His view was that there were no insurmountable problems. The important thing was the need for good will and consensus.

Indeed, one also needed to reform the way the association functioned, the way it was staffed and was funded. He wanted to see a stronger association, which would also assume more of the role of the Department of Local Councils.

The association should be prepared for Malta's membership in the EU and have a stronger role in training councillors and supporting local councils.

Dr Gatt referred to remarks made in the debate by Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri about a road works tender possibly having been awarded irregularly by St Julian's local council. He said the department had investigated the allegations made and found that Mr Cuschieri was not totally correct in what he said and no abuse had been made in the award of the contract.

Referring to remarks by a number of MPs about how parliamentary questions on local councils were answered, Dr Gatt said he was still of the view that since local councils were statutorily independent, he could not reply to questions about them. He could only reply on matters for which he was politically responsible and the councils were not under his direction and control. The only matters he could reply to regarding local councils were those dealing with the Local Councils Department, overseeing powers, observance of the law, and matters of policy.

In any case, the Local Councils Act gave everyone, and not just MPs, full access to council documents.

Concluding, Dr Gatt said local councils had matured and expanded into various sectors including education and social work. The top challenge they faced was to be of greater service to the people through better customer care and the e-government project.

He felt another challenge was for them to raise greater public awareness on the need to protect the environment. Indeed he would urge them to wage war on waste and dirt and deploy more wardens on environment-related duties.

The bill was then given a second reading.

Dr Michael Farrugia (MLP), who spoke earlier, said that local councils should have a certain degree of leeway so that funds allocated to them during the year could be used for the payment of works carried out during the previous year.

However it was unacceptable for a local council to be burdened by debts incurred by a previous council, as was the case at Mosta.

Dr Farrugia insisted that St Paul Bay council should take action to warn bathers whenever bays were polluted by sewage outflows.

He also called on local councils to make better use of health centres to promote health education. Schools should be made accessible to the public and local councils and the Department of Education should collaborate so that people who could not attend school in their childhood, would be given a new opportunity to study.

Local councils should also identify and maintain sites of historical importance.