To ensure Kiama residents continue to have their bins emptied, where possible staff are working from home to ensure fuel supplies. Photo: Kiama Council.
Kiama Council staff who are able to work from home are now doing so in a bid to keep household rubbish collection going as fuel prices surge and uncertainty continues.
Council CEO Jane Stroud said the decision was driven by a combination of spiralling fuel costs as a result of the war in the Middle East, the council’s unique role in directly providing waste collection, and a responsibility to protect both ratepayers’ money and staff struggling with cost‑of‑living pressures.
“Like every local government out there, we’ve been closely monitoring the situation for some weeks now,” Ms Stroud said.
“But unlike a lot of the other local governments in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, we are actually the only one within that region who provides waste collection directly.
“What fuel reserves we have, we need to prioritise for the collection of waste, and domestic waste in particular.
“Because my budget is so finely tuned, and we literally monitor cash flow every single week, we have seen nearly a 70 per cent spike.
“The other point of difference for us is we don’t have a direct fuel supplier, so we are literally purchasing at the pump, which means that we are subject to, like anyone’s household, supply, volatility and pricing.
“We’re really copping it.”
Ms Stroud said unfortunately the Federal Government hadn’t listed rubbish collection as one of the essential services, but regardless “my local town expects me to keep those trucks moving and to keep picking up the waste”.
She said council staff already had flexible work-from-home conditions, where staff were able to work two days a week from home.
“I was hearing a lot of chatter amongst the office staff around the rising cost of fuel,” she said.
“We were seeing people carpool and catch the train, and just an increase in folks accessing our counselling service, because they’re getting really worried about how expensive everything is.
“To me, obviously, the expenditure of rate payers’ funds has to be carefully managed, and my priority has to go to keeping the waste trucks moving.
“So anyone with a council vehicle, I said, ‘If you can do your job at home, do it’, because we owe it to the ratepayers to keep the costs as under control as we can.”
However, she said it was important the community understood council services wouldn’t be affected as a result.
“Essential services will still continue, and the doors of our council services – be that library, swimming pools, the customer service centre – will still be open for business,” she said.
“We’re just doing our job slightly different.”
Ms Stroud said the approach had worked during the COVID pandemic, requiring some flexibility and a shift in thinking, with staff supported to make the change when needed.
She said while there was no clear timeline, what she did know was it was “getting more and more expensive at the bowser”.
For Wollongong City Council, it is continuing to monitor the situation closely.
“It has not been necessary to make any changes to how we deliver our essential services to date, including within our workforce,” a Wollongong City Council spokesperson said.
“Our employees continue to have access to flexible working arrangements where it is appropriate to their role.
“We also support staff to use transport that is less reliant on fuel, such as walking, cycling and public transport.
“We have plans in place should we need to make adjustments in future.”
