Earlier in the year, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Rates Act, a historically significant dateline in the history of local government finance.  The Act gave central government the power to set caps for any increase in rates that councils could levy. And as a sanction, council leaders who acted ultra vires or beyond their powers could be prosecuted, banned from office for up to 10 years and fined.

The 1984 Rates Reform Act also engendered the working concept of the golden triangle of chief executive/monitoring officer/chief finance officer. This established the principle that they, in the exercise of their leadership responsibilities, should own and champion good governance and effective financial management in local government.