GESAC and its costs remain a mystery. We would bet that it is even a mystery to councillors. There is the incredible spin of success after success – 7,000 members, then 8,000 members, now 9,000 members (all in the space of 3 months) and the forecast of 10,000 members by the end of the month. All remains talk as far as we’re concerned. Not once has this council published a full and comprehensive list of expenses versus income. Nothing about memberships has been put in writing, such as what do these 9000 alleged members currently consist of? Are they FULL memberships? Part memberships? How many people have NOT renewed memberships? How much money has had to be refunded? How much is staff costing? How much is maintenance costing per week or month or even year?
Nor has there been any update on legal costs and the liquidated damages bills with Hansen and Yuncken. The same repetitious blurb has appeared in the monthly financial reports for the past 3 months. Hardly an ‘update’ to inform residents as to what is going on!
Nor has there been any murmur about the basketball court allocations. Burke’s report shows that the Warriors aren’t fulfilling their terms of contract as to hourly court hire. How much have ratepayers therefore subsidised the under-usage of the courts by the warriors? How much longer will this continue? What is happening now that the contract is due for re-appraisal? What are the criteria? Will councillors have the guts to insist that sport allocations become open and transparent rather than left in the hands of public servants?
All we know about GESAC are the incredible claims and the spread of bitumen and concrete for more and more car parking. Our questions are therefore quite simple –
- If GESAC is such a raging success, then why is this council continuing to splurge money on full paid colour ads in all the local papers?
- Why is council now offering to waive registration fees for new members if numbers are going through the roof as they claim?
- When will these councillors insist on a full and comprehensive ledger which shows every dollar of income and every single expense?
The spin must stop and be replaced with facts, figures, and open transparent governance. Here’s the latest extravagance:
Glen Eira Debates 
January 2, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Not for one single second do I believe the garbage that has been fed to the public over the last year. The first plans for Gesac had from memory about 42 car parking spaces. When you’re borrowing $25m there has to be some idea of the required revenue that will come in to meet the costs of such a loan. That translates into the numbers of people you’re hoping will show up and how much they will pay. 42 car spaces was never an option and they knew it right from the start. The expansion of car parking was planned right from the beginning. Letting the secret out too early could have jeopardised the grand plan and would have had many more people up in arms. This way it’s spaced over a few years and the Newton and Lipshutz excuses come into play – “victims” of “success”. The only “victims” here are those poor bastards living anywhere near this place and the rest of us who keep paying through the nose for something we weren’t told about. Some honest accounting is long overdue.
January 2, 2013 at 6:47 PM
Council is big on spin and the glib one liners to quote Turnbull. They never offer definitions in order for their figures to be fully evaluated. One recent manifestation of this is the claim that the costs associated with gesac are a little over $1 per visit as opposed to the $8 for the old pool. I’d like to know the basis for this figure and how it is calculated and what it means.
January 2, 2013 at 9:57 PM
The sums are pretty simple. Take the total amount spent on running the place and divide it by the number of patrons that come through the gate.
The figures are not comparable as GESAC is open all year. The old pool only had swimmers, no gym or basketball. Apples and pears.
January 3, 2013 at 7:35 AM
I’d agree that in a private business the costs of running the business are pretty simple – but in Glen Eira I have don’t have the same confidence. Just take for example the costs of building GESAC – additional costs incurred re car park expansion (1st expansion $600K, 2nd expansion in Gardiners Road $500k, childrens playground relocation $500K) don’t seem to have been included in capital cost of GESAC and they should have been.
As for the running costs – a project this size (largest capital project ever undertaken by Council), with such a potential to impact ratepayers deserves it’s one separate detailed accounts (P&L, BS, cashflow). Yet all residents get is lots of glib statements supported by one or two summary lines in the accounts (which don’t support the glib statements).
January 8, 2013 at 8:06 PM
GESAC really is the ‘monster in the cupboard’ that everyone wants to have a go at. It was built with a vision to give the people of Glen Eira a quality sport and aquatic facility while still respecting the legacy of the complex it replaced. I can remember Rob Spaulding being at the forefront of its design process and voted for Jim Magee who fought hard to make it ‘memorable’. The original plans called for a ‘4 court high ball stadium’ with I believe parking underneath. 4 became 3 very quickly and the cost of the parking changed the plans. That was a very long time ago and today we see a great building, the equal of anything around but the planning and decision making that takes place somewhat of a shambles.
We seem to have Councillors that don’t know their place in local government. Decisions are being made, rightly or wrongly, by professionals that are employed to advise, report and enact on Council agreement. This doesn’t happen.
The best thing our elected representatives could do right now is inform the ratepayers exactly how GESAC is going. How much revenue from the pools? How much revenue from the coffee shop? How much revenue from the Courts?
Maybe the next Glen Eira News can give us 4 colour graphs with all the important information (and yes, a picture of our mayor as well)
I and all concerned ratepayers look forward to it.
January 8, 2013 at 9:19 PM
Brendan, there’s about as much hope for an honest and forthright accounting of all costs as visiting Mars in the next 20 years.