DAs taking 12 months to be approved. Council officers fining Cobargo retailers for displaying a banner saying their business is open, when they should be supporting every effort by these hard-hit businesses to promote their businesses.

Get rid of all the unnecessary pen-pushers in council who are contributing absolutely nothing to the community and get back to the basics - and a realistic level of rates. Council, are you listening?

I sympathise with all the letter writers worried about the proposed enormous rate hike. No-one wants to pay more, especially in the present economic circumstances.

But we do have to pay for the services in some way whether it be through income tax, road tax, GST etc.

The point of taxes, I always believed, was to share the burden so that it does not fall so heavily on those least able to afford it. However, I think our system has increasingly been moving away from this model.

In Scandinavian countries they pay more income tax but also have more comprehensive government services that look after everybody's health, welfare and education.

A lot has been said about council's mismanagement and I do not know if there is a case to answer. Perhaps we do need more transparency.

But I think there is a bigger conversation that needs to be had about how and how much money is allocated at the federal and state level, especially to regions with dispersed populations.

It's a conversation about how and where we want the money raised spent. Medicare for instance, so that we don't have life threatening waiting times. Healthy people are productive people.

So let's not be quick to pile on public servants but look at the bigger picture.

This newspaper is facing an 80% hike in costs. We all know building costs have gone up. Council may well need that extra money. The question is how it should be sourced.

35% is ridiculous. It's a form of blackmail.

The amount of waste in this shire is monstrous. Almost every road repair is not done properly and breaks down very quickly. The jet patcher is a total waste of time and money spreading gravel and leaving it behind to clog storm water drains and water ways. I might add the costly storm water levies are a rip off. The number of small trucks running around doing nothing is unbelievable. If council's works department was audited you would see where the savings would be made and an increase in charges not needed.

I truly believe council in all respects is not running effectively or efficiently.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. 35% increase at this time will be a financial burden to all of us who already pay to live in rural Australia.

More for fuel, electricity, food etc - you will be putting a lot of people in a position of hardship. This is not the time to affect your community this way when we are all affected by inflation.

A while ago Bega council advertised a job in customer support - they boasted they take all calls within 30 seconds. That's a joke, remove this target and get rid of 3-4 staff.

Also libraries are overstaffed so there's another four staff gone. Not bad in five minutes with salary, super, equipment, holiday pay etc I have just saved $1 million per annum.

Now look at the rest of council's staff and work practices and cut the rest of the excess. $6 million can easily be saved.

My wife and I do not agree to this aggressive rise to our rates. Six commercial properties in which 10 businesses operate and three of them belonging to us. We gave support and rent relief to our tenants during this time at our expense.

We have had to make many adjustments to keep all our staff employed during this time as well and now even with rising cost transportation and utilities it is a struggle.

There's no way we can absorb or pass on such an increase to our tenants or our customers. This will cause job losses and vacant buildings.

How can businesses and investors come, let alone stay in Bega shire when priced out.

Already the council is changing us for public use report then wanting to charge a yearly fee for this use of public space that is in a poorly kept state and as business owners we keep clean and respectable for locals and travellers.

The proposed rate increase is preposterous So many of our community are pensioners and totally unable to sustain this incumbency on their very limited income.

In truth the services offered are minimal as it stands. We already pay higher rates than the most wealthy suburbs in Sydney.

Consultation - not a dictatorial decision to make a few bucks to save the council's failed budget. We already suffer from loss of access to facilities. Don't make it even more impossible to live in the Bega Valley.