[Tuesday 14 May] As part of Councils budget process, a public healing was held at Council last Tuesday. TWiSK reports on the public submissions.
The public hearing about the draft Council budget attracted about 20 verbal submissions. Given a few minutes each, the community members made their pitch for additional funding.
The Elwood Toy Library President Sonja Blackburn called for a modest $5K to cover increase staffing costs. A local tennis club sought funds to resurface their courts to improve public access. A procession of EcoCentre participants called for an unspecified extra funding because the organisation was a ‘worlds class’ organisation (note that Council voted last month to allocate an extra $119K to the centre to cover extra staff costs and a trial of weekend services). Gasworls Arts Park sought $40K to support installation of solar panels.
Symphony seeks support for 80th year
Displaced from rehearsal and performing space at the South Melbourne Town Hall during the renovations, the South Melbourne Orchestra surprised councillors with an appeal for support. Orchestra President Hilary Bush said the orchestra needed a modest ongoing grant to support rehearsals and venue hire costs. ‘We are planning our 80th year,’ she said.
[Their next performance is at their temporary ‘home’ in Richmond on 23 June]
Retail landlords feeling stung
Council plans to significantly increase rates for vacant retail premises prompted two landlords to appeal for reconsideration. An Acland Street landlord said her retail/restaurant space had been vacant despite cutting the rent by half and offering rent free incentives. ‘I’m facing a 400% rate increase,’ she said.
Graph attack
Balaclava local Helen Halliday sought to shift the debate from specifics with her analysis of the council’s spending reported by ward areas. She argued that council spending on the Port, Elwood and Montague wards was made at the expense of Alma, Balaclava and Lakeside wards.
Her data suggested that for every $1 in rates collected from Balaclava, only $0.60 was spent on the area, whereas in Montague the return was $1.75.
When questioned by councillors about her data, Helen replied ‘I’ve got more graphs.’ This prompted light-hearted laughter.
Alma Ward candidate Justine Halliday (Helen’s son) backed up the research and data with a strident submission on council discretionary spending (see opinion).
More trees please
Jack Halliday (yes, it was a family affair) suggested that Council had dropped the ball on tree planting and needed to fund a program that would add 35,000 trees to the city. He said the current rate of additional trees was as low as 400 per year. ‘We need many more tress to reach our urban forest targets,’ he said.
As rates squeeze, fees rise
John Spierings provided commentary on the long-term impact of State imposed rate freezes. He said that as rates are eroded by inflation, councils are forced to increase fees and charges, thus shifting the burden away from property owners.
RoPP was missing …
While the progressive activists were well represented and vocal in their concerns, apart from the two landlords there was no submission to reduce rates or council spending.
