City budget opens for input

THE City of Ballarat’s 2022/23 draft budget has been released and now the municipality wants your input on the financial plan.

Approved for community consultation during last week’s council meeting, the draft budget includes $6.4 million for environmental projects and mayor Cr Daniel Moloney it would deliver a sustainable future for the City.

“The overwhelming feedback from people was they wanted to see a more sustainable, environmentally-focused budget and this is one of the biggest budgets we’ve had in that regard,” he said.

“A significant range of improvements have been devoted to biodiversity, management of waterways, tree planting, and working towards establishing our recycling facility.”

The budget also devotes $4.6 million to the circular economy precinct in the Ballarat West Employment Zone, as well as $500,000 for continued tree planting, and $440,000 on recycled water schemes.

The draft also sees $47.6 million go towards maintaining existing infrastructure like roads, bridges and community assets, while a further $22 million would see the fulfillment of upgrades for Her Majesty’s Theatre, and works at Ballarat Airport.

An additional $19.3 million is proposed for the long-term maintenance of older projects, and CEO Evan King said the plan ensures a balance between growth and stability.

“I think what is important is that it’s equitable across the whole city,” he said.

“There’s funding in the budget for the Ballymanus community hub obviously in one of our growth areas. There’s also funding in there for the Sebastopol community hub.

“We need to continue to invest in our growth areas but we also need to make sure that the infrastructure in our existing suburbs is maintained and updated.”

As for that what you’ll pay, the municipal waste levy is set to increase by 6.25 per cent as a result of the state’s Environmental Protection Agency increase of $26 per household.

In accordance with the State Government rate capping policy, and underpinning the municipal budget’s revenue, an average property rate increase of 1.75 per cent across the municipality has been proposed.