Our say | RYDA forced to fight again for its survival

Sometimes, it seems, the same can be said for news.

It was just a little over 18 months ago that this newspaper went in to bat for the organisers of the Rotary Young Driver Awareness program, arguing that Bathurst Regional Council needed to be a little more generous with its support.

In March 2018 councillors were debating whether $6500 was too much to pay to support a program targeted squarely at saving the lives of young drivers.

And, as the issue comes before council again tonight, only the numbers will have changed.

RYDA is now in a fight for its existence after a council report decided that the cost of supporting the program was much more than previously thought.

Council's penny-pinching breakdown of the 2018 costs included such items as "filling of water-filled barriers" (that will be $200, thanks); hire of two pit garages for four days ($3920); four rooms (total of $8532); and post-event cleaning (a relative bargain at $210).

With a few other items the total 2018 bill was estimated at $16,066, but that was for four days.

In 2019 the program expanded to five days to cope with demand and council's estimate climbed to $23,624.

It's simply not sustainable and councillors must think very hard before slugging RYDA with such a bill.

Worse, though (as we argued 18 months ago), is the fact we are not even talking about real money.

Council is not being asked to dig into its reserves to support RYDA; rather, it is being asked to forgo the hire fees.

RYDA ensures its booking are made for a time when no-one else wants to use the pit complex, so council will not be out of pocket for fees from another hirer.

Indeed, it would seem the only real cost to council would be paying someone to clean the pit complex once RYDA is finished.

We would have thought council, and councillors, would be falling over themselves to support a program that save lives on the road.

Instead, RYDA is again pitched into a battle for survival.

It's just not right - and we hope councillors make the correct decision tonight.