Within Federal and State Governments, a well-known budget strategy is called “round up the hostages”. Public servants required to find savings in their budgets offer up cuts to services they know to be particularly unpalatable to their political masters. Other cuts to their empires that are easier to make stay in the files as they protect their power bases.
Could we see the same strategy at work in the City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters? There is constant speculation about the future of the Norwood Pool and the Norwood Library. Both are hostages.
In the case of the pool, out of the blue Council management in June 2026 proposed to further restrict the opening hours and days of the operation for the sake of saving no more than $140,000 per year. Fortunately, sanity prevailed and the idea was rejected by Council after some impassioned representations from local residents.
In the case of the Library, ESCOSA recommended that Council “consider asset sales to reduce future liabilities…. noting that the Council has two swimming centres, three libraries and a childcare centre.” I wonder which of the three libraries they had in mind, perhaps the one with the shortest opening hours?
However, there is a bigger story here. Why are these two parts of Council’s operations constantly under scrutiny? The savings from shutting both are miniscule. Th net cost of the Pool is $0.577 million per year and the net cost of the Library can be estimated at less than $0.5 million per year. The combined expense of $1 million equals about 2% of the annual $50 million budget.
If we are looking to trim at the edges what about the $1.663 million to be spent on “corporate governance” or the $2.420 million set aside for “administration and corporate expenses”? What goes missing in this constant refrain is the value that the Pool and the Library create. For their users, they are precious parts of our community, not only for the direct benefits they provide but also for the sense of community they create. This extends even to non-users who can see that they are part of our fabric.
We have an election coming up in April and it is inevitable that some will raise the old chestnuts of the Norwood Pool and Library. The Norwood Pool and Norwood Library are off limits. Time to see this for the hostage taking that it is.