The whereabouts of 50 years of depreciation for the Naracoorte saleyards is under the spotlight following questions by Cr Cameron Grundy.

Cr Grundy has further queried if livestock owners have paid for the yards twice – once via fees when they sold their stock, and again as ratepayers via their council rates.

He raised the matter at council’s June 25 meeting following a motion on notice by Cr Craig McGuire regarding the Naracoorte Regional Livestock Exchange (NRLE).

As the matter loomed for debate, Cr Tom Dennis declared a conflict of interest and left the meeting.

Reading from a prepared statement, Cr McGuire claimed the long-term financials were “raising their head” along with “the costings and uncertainties of grants for sheep tags”.

[Under a mandatory State Government scheme, saleyard operators do not pay for or insert eID tags, farmers do. Saleyard owners must be ready by January 1, 2025 to “scan all sheep movements” through their yards and “record individual movements” on the NLIS database. Saleyard operators can apply for reimbursement of 75 percent of the overall cost of upgrading their facilities for the scheme.]

Cr McGuire said his motion seemed to be “a smart financial step to make sure the future of the NRLE is financially secure”, and praised council’s audit committee.

He compared his motion to that of a $67,000 audit of the district’s roads, but “this will cost our ratepayers nothing”.

Cr McGuire put forward his four-point motion calling for council’s audit and risk committee to undertake an in-depth assessment of the NRLE financial position including: –

Cr Grundy, who is also the chairman of the NRLE, seconded the motion.

“I have a question for Cr McGuire,” Cr Grundy said.

“Obviously these four-points have been keeping him up at night. I was wondering what his thoughts were when it came to the question of depreciation at the moment and reconciling that with the recent spend.”

Cr McGuire: “I’m just going to take everything he says on, on a question on notice (sic).

“I’ve been waiting. I didn’t know which angle he was going to come at”¦”

Mayor Patrick Ross intervened, said Cr McGuire “won’t answer” the question, then called on Cr Grundy to continue.

Cr Grundy described the saleyards as a 50-year-old asset which was self-sustaining and self-funding.

“Let’s face it, there hasn’t been a lot of money spent at the saleyards in the last 50 years with the roof over the cattle yards being the exception,” he said, adding that during his time as a councillor other amounts had only included some maintenance and renewal.

“So, we’ve got provision for depreciation over 50 years and how do we reconcile that with the spend that has taken place over the last four or five years?

“It has been put to me by one ratepayer: `Have we paid for the saleyards by way of our fees when we put our livestock forward for sale in the saleyards, and again (by) being asked to pay for it by way of our rates?’

“These are all fair questions. I would like to see the question of depreciation over the last 50 years and coupled with the spend over the last four and five years – how council reconciles those two matters.”

Mayor Ross said he imagined the depreciation would be picked up under a revenue source and asked CEO Trevor Smart: “Would you think so?”

Mr Smart: “Under AMPs. Financial plan.”

Mayor Ross: “I’m sure it will all be there.”

No other councillors commented and the motion was supported unanimously.

After the meeting, The [Naracoorte Community] News asked Mr Smart the estimated value of the saleyards, how much depreciation had been put aside and “where are those funds invested now?”

Mr Smart said the NRLE infrastructure assets “are recorded at replacement cost with a value as at 30 June 2023 of $13,394,181”.

“This is not a ‘market value’ but rather an estimated cost to replace those existing assets,” he said.

“This figure is reviewed on an annual basis, and will also be updated pending a building asset revaluation to be undertaken in 2024/25, as council is required to have an independent revaluation of its assets on a five year cycle.”

While past councils, such as in 2011, had at least twice considered privatising the saleyards, Mr Smart explained neither he nor the director of infrastructure Daniel Willsmore had been approached to sell the NRLE.

Regarding compensation for costs associated with scanning and recording sheep movements at the yards, Mr Smart indicated the council was still waiting to hear from the State Government.

This article appeared in the  Naracoorte Community News.