Carpentaria Shire Council Mayor Les Wilson said while his region had been spared amalgamation, the council was suffering from lack of representation and worsening infrastructure.

Cr Wilson said the reduction in the number of councillors had increased their workload to an unreasonable level.

He said the Queensland Government was making decisions affecting council operations without consultation from all stakeholders.

“The Government said they weren’t going to amalgamate us, but they’ll cut our councillors in half,” Cr Wilson said.

“We’re the size of Tasmania and we only have a handful of councillors. It just seems like we’re out in the sticks so we get dropped off the line.”

Cr Wilson said the Queensland Government’s frequent changes to the Local Government Act were making daily operations difficult.

“Every few weeks we get a love note from Brisbane to tell us they’ve changed another part of the Local Government Act because it contradicted the last bit they changed,” he said.

“Everyone thinks it is just the councils that were amalgamated who are suffering.”

Cr Wilson said the cash strapped council was struggling to provide adequate infrastructure for the region.

He said roads were in a poor state with trucks forced to drive on a single lane of bitumen in places where there should be two lanes.

The Skytrans Airline last week removed its tri-weekly air route to Townsville due to an inadequate landing strip at the Kurumba airport.

“We’ve got to get the money off the ratepayers, but we don’t want to put the rates up too high,” he said.

Cr Wilson said owners of the nearby Century Mine, OZ Minerals, could provide some funding to aide the region build infrastructure and plans to approach the mining company.

However, he said he was disappointed they had not been more actively involved in the region.

“They used to support the town and schools and charity events, but in the last 12 months their support has just dropped away, they should be doing a lot more for the region,” Cr Wilson.

Cr Wilson was hopeful of finding solutions to the current financial and infrastructure problems facing the council.

“We’re battling away and we’ll get there, but it’s not going to be clear sailing.”