Meredith Shipsey says an astronomical car repair bill has become an unavoidable cost of living in the pothole-ridden town of Dunedoo in central western NSW.
"It does a lot of damage to the shocks of the cars, the wheel alignments, the tyre rims," Ms Shipsey said.
"On one occasion the road was so bad it caved in with an underground pipe and ripped out my back plate quite severely."
The weather-beaten intersection next to her house went underwater during the floods of 2022, which wreaked havoc on the region's road network.
Natural disaster funds were handed out by the state government, but some councils say delays in the approvals process have prevented them from spending it.
Warrumbungle Shire Council, which covers Dunedoo, has received $12 million in state government funding to repair the damage caused by natural disasters over the past year and a half.
But technical services director Gary Murphy said the council was unable to spend that money before it expired in June 2024.
Mr Murphy said the council was still waiting to receive approval from Transport for NSW dating back to floods of November 2021, and August and September of 2022.
He said the council would then face a chronic shortage of workers needed to complete the works in time, even if they were approved.
"There's no shortage of money, which is pretty unusual because normally everyone's crying out for money," Mr Murphy said.
"What we have got is a shortage of resources to get the work done."
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said Warrumbungle Shire Council was welcome to apply for an extension to its deadline.
"The original deadline of 30 June, 2024 for completed work can be extended up to 30 March, 2026," the spokesperson said.
"Transport for NSW staff are available to assist council with the paperwork required."
Lengthy bureaucratic processes: mayor
Narrabri Shire Council mayor Ron Campbell said his organisation also faced delays due to a back-and-forth approvals process with Transport for NSW and Recovery NSW.
Cr Campbell said it was a lengthy, bureaucratic approvals process reminiscent of the satirical TV show Utopia.
"The show Utopia mate — it lives and it exists and it is so real," Cr Campbell said.
"It's understandable with the amount of flooding right across the state; it drains the resources of the government, and I'm sure they're in the same boat as us."
Cr Campbell said his council had 1,300 repair jobs on its to-do list caused by natural disasters in the past 12 months alone.
He said Narrabri was also facing an "epidemic" of worker shortages, meaning long delays for the projects even after being approved
Narromine Shire Council mayor Craig Davies said onerous state government regulation was stifling his organisation's ability to get work done.
"We have a bureaucratic system that has been continually developed by the previous government to the extent it is very difficult to get almost anything done," Cr Davies said.
"We are beholden to a bureaucracy that is making very poor choices for anyone west of the Blue Mountains."
