True to form, GESAC barely rated a mention at Tuesday night’s council meeting. No Pools Steering Committee report, nothing in the Audit Committee ‘minutes’. But buried in the Financial Report, there are the following statements:
“Please note that GESAC forecast income has been reduced by $520K in order to more accurately reflect the timing of opening the Centre. This reduction in income has been offset by a reduction in employee benefits expenditure of $220K”.
“Unfavourable variance in User Fees and Charges $1.12M (includes delay in income expected from GESAC $1.33M)”.
The listed ‘income’ from GESAC is the princely sum of $3,000 and expenditure of $1,187,000. The black hole of lost income is turning into the Grand Canyon, especially when there could be further ratepayers’ subsidies that cover up for the basketball allocation fiasco. Here’s a public question that was asked on Tuesday night and the typical non-answer –
1. Will all the existing basketball courts be fully utilised by the Warriors each week from the opening date?
2. If some courts stand empty, will the Warriors be paying for any courts they do not use?
3. If unused courts are not paid for by the Warriors, what is the expected revenue loss to Council?
4. What is the anticipated duration of any ‘under booking’?
The Mayor read Council’s response. He said: “The Warriors will be utilising the indoor courts in accordance with the Expression of Interest (EOI) accepted by Council. All Councillors have previously received copies of the EOI which is confidential.”
Glen Eira Debates 
March 23, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Feldman, Tang and Stoikas. Thanks
March 23, 2012 at 12:22 PM
No!!!! Thank Newton, Burke and their slaves Lipshutz and Hyams.
March 23, 2012 at 1:05 PM
When you’re dealing with the biggest loan and the biggest project in this council’s history and residents are forking out for the vast majority of the costs then I’d say that people have every right to know exactly what’s going on. Not in Glen Eira. We’re always the last to know. All that comes out of council via their mouthpiece Lipshutz is how many pools, how many slides, how many members but the really important stuff such as when will this open and how much money has been lost is all secret. The public has a right to know if we’re going to be up for more payouts to lawyers and compensation to businesses. The public question is spot on too. If courts are standing empty for months and months because of the gigantic balls up by Burke and his mates then that should also be made public instead of trying to cover all their arses. The whole project has been badly handled from start to finish.
March 24, 2012 at 1:59 PM
The court fiasco will be interesting to watch when GESAC finally opens. Will Glen Eira warriors take up the allocation or will Oakleigh warriors move from their current home? (confidential EOI) No domestic competition over at Oakleigh so a lot of empty courts. Council really have a fair bit of explaining to do if this happens and for how long will they let the courts sit idle in this election year?
March 25, 2012 at 12:28 PM
If courts are left empty this is another indication of the total stupidity of those councillors who supported the ineptitude of Burke and Newton to the detriment of ratepayers and the MBA. The response to the public question is a further example of the secrecy and cover ups that go on all the time in this council – aided and abetted by silence from all councillors.
We’ve already been told that over a million dollars has been lost because gesac isn’t finished. Courts standing idle means more losses that are being covered by residents. Maybe these people think this is good planning. I certainly don’t. It reeks of cronyism, poor management and cover ups galore.