Council’s ability to deliver real community benefit on its financial arrangements keeps cropping up. The latest example is the agreement with the National Trust for a 3 year lease that will allow Glen Eira residents access to the Ripponlea gardens for free. No doubt a very worthwhile idea. But at what cost? And why is it that other councils can achieve the same outcome but at a cost of 5 times less? Who negotiated this deal?
The following screen dumps compare what Port Phillip managed to achieve for its residents at the cost of a maximum of $50,000 per annum and good ol’ Glen Eira is paying $250,000 for exactly the same thing!!!!
The Glen Eira resolution:
Now for the Port Phillip agreement:
History tells us that this council is woeful in negotiating anything. A $25 million loan was ‘negotiated’ at a fixed 8.4% for 25 years. To ‘renegotiate’ for a lower rate it cost ratepayers quite a tidy little sum. Of course we mustn’t forget the pathetic 4% and 5% that the Caulfield Village (MRC) development is paying for something approaching 2,500 dwellings. Every major project that this council has undertaken has resulted in time delays, over budget, and countless court cases. It is a history of poor financial management and poor decision making.
Glen Eira Debates 
March 12, 2020 at 10:27 AM
What the hell. We’ve got morons running the show
March 12, 2020 at 11:45 AM
It’s not their money so they splurge whenever they like. Time that this council got audited from top to bottom and the culprits outed.
March 12, 2020 at 8:03 PM
Unbelievable.
March 13, 2020 at 2:22 PM
With everything that’s happening in the world at the moment, this is certainly on the bottom of the totem pole of priorities. It does though highlight the endemic nature of financial management in Glen Eira. Pandemics are random and worldwide. Endemic events keep recurring for a specific population or geography.
March 13, 2020 at 9:46 PM
The only logic I could possibly bring to the table would be, PP is not expecting many of their residents will take up the offer to visit. Then I guess a question worth an answer would be does Ripponlea keep a record of how many residents from GE pass though their gate, and if the do the same with PP, the stats would tell us the relative value of these two financial arrangements.
We do need more info as 250.000 smakas a year is no small deal.
I did visit Ripponlea last year, the team of gardeners were mostly all volunteers retiree playing catch-up with the weeds, with two paid overlings doing the organising, the lake was a shambles of it former self and the house didn’t look like a cent had been spent on it in many a year. Although the vol tour guide was first class.