Sydney’s City of Ryde Council has announced the return of more than $40 million to its Restricted Cash Reserves, as an ICAC investigation continues to determine whether the funds were deliberately misspent.
In a statement issued yesterday, Council CEO, Wayne Rylands said the organisation’s Chief Financial Officer had reversed funds transfers made in 2020 and 2021 and returned $41,336,045 to the relevant Council accounts, as an action agreed by The Office of Local Government (OLG).
In May, the Council asked ICAC to investigate whether around $35 million in developer community infrastructure contributions had been used to fund other local projects, including a new $110 million civic building.
“As these matters are still with the Office of the Local Government and Independent Commission Against Corruption for their consideration, no further comment can be made by the Council at this time,” said Mr Rylands.
“Although the investigations into these matters are still ongoing, Council’s Chief Financial Officer has taken the necessary action to reverse the transfers and return the funds to the relevant Restricted Cash Reserves, being an action agreed by the Office of Local Government.”
The Council has also resolved to adopt a new Cash Reserves Policy.
“This Policy will provide greater confidence for the Council and community on the future utilisation of any restricted reserve funds by staff contained within those restricted reserves,” said Mr Rylands.
“I stress that the implementation of the above resolution will have no adverse impact on Council rates or the quality of services and programs that Council provides to the community. In fact, this will now mean that funds that had previously been set aside for open space, community and cultural facilities, and infrastructure needs can now be allocated back to projects and programs within those areas.”
“Finally, as a result of these actions, and as I mentioned in May, the future of the Ryde Central Project is currently under review. We will continue to keep the Council and the community updated as that review progresses.”
