It’s often been said the core business of councils are the three ‘R’s: Roads, rates and rubbish. But the number of services offered by councils now goes far beyond that, with sporting facilities, pools, libraries and galleries, not to mention public events and economic development all falling under the umbrella of council’s responsibility. 

It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and take a shot at council when it spends tens of thousands of dollars on public art. “Why not spend it on roads?” is often the cry from the community. And it’s easy to see why, some of our streets are so ordinary a pothole-powered car could become a perpetual motion machine.

So if we take that hard-line approach to council, the three ‘R’s, then PCYC’s request for funding should be an easy “no”. Why on earth would we give such a huge chunk of cash to a charity when there are others closer to home that could also do with a boost?

However, there needs to be a longer-term view of what PCYC will do for our community. If 10 year olds are being caught shoplifting, then there’s a desperate need for something to put them back onto the straight and narrow. 

If council’s spending money on so many things beyond the three ‘R’s these days, maybe we do need to part with a few million to fight the growing problem of juvenile delinquency.

As the old saying goes: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Still, with the state government bragging about its $4.5 billion budget surplus last week, maybe they could have found it in their hearts to just fund the project completely. After all, the ‘P’ in PCYC does stand for police and they’ll be taking care of the ongoing operation. 

It’s almost funny, really, if you take $3 million out of $4.5 billion, you’ve still pretty much got $4.5 billion. And with Wagga being the largest inland city in NSW, maybe we need a little more love from our friends on Macquarie Street. 

Unless, of course, the rumours are true and NSW really does stand for Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong.