Whitsunday Council in debt for $87 Million

The Queensland Treasury Corporation has released details of its Audit into Whitsunday Regional Council and have found that it is in debt to the tune of 87 million dollars.

The QTC said that Whitsunday Council would have gone broke last month if it had not been provided $20M in emergency funding from the Queensland Government.

Mayor Whitney told ABC Tropical that Council were looking at selling off assets to help repay its debts; "We have some vacant land, we have caravan parks....".

We here at Whitsundays Online believe that the sale of Proserpine Airport may be back on the agenda.

Water and Sewage charges are to also rise by 9%.

Whitsunday Council's Debt  would be incurring interest charges of around $4,732,800/year at 5.44%, which is $323.93 per year for every household. The proposed 'one-off' $140 levy will not cover the first years interest charges.

Here are some more interesting numbers - Whitsunday Council's Debt equals:

• $2,481.11 for every man, woman & child living in the Whitsundays;
• $5,954.66 for every household;
• 9%-10% of what every household in the Whitsundays will earn as a wage/salary this year;

Sources:
QLD Treasury & Trade
Australian Bureau of Statistics
ABC Tropical (Mackay)