At the May council meeting, several councillors called for the community to come up with a ‘Plan B’ or a ‘magic bullet’ to relieve councillors of having to make “hard decisions” to meet the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future requirements. Councillors voted unanimously at the May council meeting to apply for a special rates variation (SRV) and some service cuts, with a threat of many more service cuts if an application for an SRV is not adopted following the community consultation on the matter. The proposed SRV and service cuts include “8 per cent per year [SRV] for three (3) years … to raise $7.114million in rate income” and “a reduction in staff numbers of 23.9 FTE [full time equivalent] which results in savings of $2.19million in 2017/18” and “total savings over the four years to 2020/21 [of] $8.544million”. Meanwhile Cr Debrah Novak has told posters on a Clarence Valley Facebook forum that there are six options to make “CVC Fit for the Future within Four years”. “A) 8 per cent rate increase per year over four years (24 per cent). “B) NO SRV (cut $15million over four years from discretionary services and jobs). “C) Bring in an administrator. “D) A combination of B and C to work with elected councillors. “E) Councillors walk away and let the NSW State Government fix the problem they started 12 years ago. “F) NSW State Government give CVC the $21.7 million it said CVC would save when the five councils amalgamated in 2012. “If ratepayers don’t want an 8 per cent increase here is their chance to contribute to plans B, C, D, E and F so that CVC can arrive safely at their financial destination in four years time,” Cr Novak posted. Cr Novak encouraged people to advise CVC of their opinions – to adopt a SRV, or not – by emailing submissions to council@clarence.nsw.gov.au. “If you think the CVC elected councillors and directors are incompetent and incapable of running the whole show then send an email to the NSW Office of Local Government at olg@olg.nsw.gov.au and MP Chris Gulaptis at clarence@parliament.nsw.gov.au,” Cr Novak wrote.