Festival for freeloaders

Keith Townsend of Narre Warren is right (Junk the Junkets, Opinion, News 31 October).
Casey ratepayers’ money is indeed being wasted on junkets.
Ratepayers were told, during budget “consultations” this year, by all councillors, and CEO MikeTyler, that council had no other option than to increase our rates by 7 per cent.
Where were these council travel expenditures shown in the 2013/14 budget plan?
The trip to the Tamworth Music Festival is a non-essential (private) travel expense that should be funded by councillors Smith and Berkelmans, not ratepayers.
Ratepayers were clearly not informed by council about how our rates would be spent in the 2013/14 budget papers.
Sending councillors on a ratepayer funded $3700 junket shows that council is treating ratepayers with disrespect and that ratepayers were lied to about the need to increase our rates for the period 2013/14. Inappropriate use of ratepayers’ funds for private travel expenses by councillors strikes a blow at the integrity of council’s capacity for accountability.
Not one Casey councillor is on public record for speaking out against the Tamworth Music Festival junket.
All Casey councillors have shown a willingness to put silence and their own political loyalties before integrity and public accountability.
John Glazebrook,
Endeavour Hills.