Perth Voice Interactive

Trivial?

HERE is this month’s question for the Vincent Trivia Quiz: How much do the Vincent Administration think they will spend on traffic management, on average, for each of the next three years?  a) $20,000; b) $200,000; or c) $2 million.

For those who don’t know, ‘traffic management’ is basically the people holding the ‘stop’/’go’ signs when there is work on the road.  

While most of you would probably have said b) $200,000, those familiar with the goings on at Vincent will correctly have guessed the answer is c) $2 million per annum.

To put that in perspective, that is equivalent to about 5 per cent of the annual rates collected from ratepayers.

I’m only guessing, but I think the reason that the bill is so high is because there is no incentive for Vincent staff to stop over-servicing, so if a company says that they need x number of people to hold the lollipops the Vincent staff take that on face value – yeah, whatever.  I personally have seen a job where there were seven people employed for a job that four could easily have done.

Now I expect that Vincent will say that Main Roads pays for some of that, as if over-servicing isn’t so bad if somebody else (i.e. taxpayers) is paying for it.

So next time you see the ‘traffic managers’ out on the road, just remember that the money spent on the lollipops is equivalent to about $1 in every $20 people pay in rates.

And for those of you who want the answer to last month’s question: In which of the following does Vincent follow its policies and consult with the community before taking action: a) installing lights in laneways; b) naming laneways; c) changing the tree species in a street.

The answer was, of course, d) none of the above.

Dudley Maier
Highgate