Blue Mountains. Icelandic collapse hits council

Blue Mountains City Council has lost $7 million of ratepayers' cash on bad investments in the past two financial years. Latest financial reports revealed the council lost $3 million in investment and interest for the year ended 30 June 2009 and another $4 million in 2008. Council spent $600,000 on collateralised debt obligations on the promise of marginally higher returns but lost 96.67 per cent of that when Iceland's financial sector melted down. The tourism industry is seething that the council wants to funnel money back into its coffers using a travel levy, after having lost $580,000 buying into Icelandic banks in 2007-08, according to The Daily Telegraph.