A little belatedly, we now report on last week’s ‘debate’ on the Strategic Resource Plan and the Budget

Strategic Resource Plan (SRP)

MAGEE: Regurgitated the 2008 ‘consultation’ processes  and insisted on calling this the ‘community plan’ which incorporates the SRP. ‘The plan is fully integrated with the strategic resource plan….SRP expresses the community plan objectives ‘in financial terms’….Changes to the community plan since the SRP was advertised are 6.5% rate increase instead of 6.95% ‘to ensure consistency with the 2011/12 budget(!!!!!); over $500,000 ‘saved’ by decreasing expenditure on warm season grasses; $200,000 on pavilion design funding; and in 2016/7 more spent on infrastructure; community grants increase by $50,000….

PILLING: ‘very important for council’s future….street lighting which is $2 million over the next two years…..biggest building program ever (GESAC)….looking through (the plan) all are funded and ….I certainly commend (the SRP).

HYAMS: Aim is to keep ‘things steady’…’no changes to overall plan….what we changed are the strategic activities at the back of the plan….strategy towards closing the infrastructure gap and maintaining services….(highigihts include GESAC, Duncan McKinnon and others)….’one off charge for green waste to get more people using green waste….these are all things that will make a big difference to people’s lives and improve glen Eira….other things that might seem more mundane on first reading…..like inspecting 6000 drainage pits…..park patrols, …..a whole lot of things…..(target) so we can monitor whether we’re actually meeting the target…and if we’re falling short find out why we’re falling short…..people may note that we went to the public with one strategic resource plan, we’ve changed that in reasonably significant ways….because after we went to the public….we also put the budget to the public….and that budget was amended so it no longer (melded with the SRP) …so of course we had no choice but to amend the strategic resource plan….it still remains financially sustainable…..the change actually cost us $2.3 million  in five years…..I wasn’t in favour of that….but on the whole I still think it’s a good strategic resource plan so despite that concern I won’t be voting against it…..

TANG: ‘As the mover of that amendment (to reduce rates) I have to take some of the stick…this SRP has taken into account the budgetary position ….which would be consistent (if passed tonight) ……Hyams has failed to acknowledge some of the other changes….(warm season grasses reduction; another $50,000) but ultimately the changes in my mind are great but the SRP as a whole doesn’t address all of my concerns…..(because of changes) council is considering pushing back its pavilion program…not necessarily all of the scale of caulfield park….but closer to the scale of the multi purpose pavilion at Princes Park….allowing council to do pavilions at Victory park …there are countless pavilions out there that council could do …..prudent process would be to do one a year…..not to address all of them…to try and get through in a timely manner…..alongside other major programs such as (childcare Bentleigh library)….why I don’t support this SRP is primarily because councillors said that in order to (have lower rates) it will push back that pavilion program. I have no objection to a number of other programs….

MOTION CARRIED

Item 9.11 – BUDGET

MAGEE: Regurgitated again public’consultation’ process. ‘We have a set of pressures to allocate funds to fix up our ageing facilities….keep day to day costs as low as we can….4.95 million on roads….3.29 million on drains…..7.85 to complete GESAC….cash flow for GESAC indicate …..25 million borrowings…..Elsternwick childcare centre….environmental initiatives’. Magee went on to read out overall capital expenditure, assessment on property costs. ‘It’s a good budget, a responsible budget, but most of all….it is keeping our rates to 6.5%….

TANG: ‘I want to speak to the budget information session….no one turned up this year which was quite disappointing. In the past we’ve had small attendances…..it would be good to see that information session used to generate a bit of feed back before the budget submission process….we did have one speaker (in budget submissions)….we acknowledged the Friends of Caulfield Park submission…a number of suggestions that we had previously considered such as the depot, conservatory (and trees in the West of the park) …some I think council will certainly consider as part of its management practices….others such as the conservatory are …..I really do like the idea of hav ing a conservatory that is alive once again….there was some support for council initiatives this year….street light conversion…..a good step forward……I’d call it a compromise budget….council is transparent in its previous SRPs….in communicating to our residents that it was intending to raise by 6.5% in this financial years…..(because embarking on) massive renewal….in that regard I’m happy to see council follow through with that strategic resource plan….a prudent and responsible rate rise……allows us to do a number of things….

HYAMS: ‘third lowest’ rate rise in metro councils……low fees and charges, yet high capital expenditure….it lets us do what’s in the community plan basically…..(thank those who made submissions, especially Glen Eira Environment Group who were worried that council was putting synthetic grass, especially in road barriers)….’road separation only goes between service lanes and main roads…..save on maintenance because if you have grass there you have to cut it….and I certainly wouldn’t like to be the guy mowing ……I think it’s quite a worthwhile thing to do….

MAGEE: Stated that asking councillors to put up their pet projects means that you have ‘projects far outweighing the capabilities of the budget…..day care in East Bentleigh would be something that I would support …..pavilions in Victory and Centenary are something that I would have liked to ….at the end of the day it’s a matter of prioritising….I think this budget has prioritised….we would like to see more….I commend the budget to the council….’

MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

COMMENT

  • Deliberate obfuscation in calling anything a ‘community plan’! Glen Eira does not have a Community Plan (unlike other councils). It has a Council Plan.
  • One would have hoped for more than a ‘reading’ of the budget papers/SRP papers, outlining expenditure. Please note that there was barely any mention of increased charges (especially for 3 year old kinda), nor burden of huge interest repayments, etc.
  • The lack of real and open debate is once again a damning indictment on the decision making processes of this Council.