Town Hall transparency improves

LOCAL Government Victoria’s recently released Know Your Council data has reported an improvement in City of Ballarat’s transparency.

In the 2020-2021 financial year, the council undertook 3.28 per cent of its decision making behind closed doors, whereas comparable local government areas made 9.05 per cent of their decisions in camera.

The City’s community satisfaction data reported 58 per cent of people were happy with decisions made, whereas comparable local government areas’ public satisfaction was at 53 per cent.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said town hall is seeing a new era of transparency and accountability.

“As councillors, with the support of CEO Evan King, we want to be more accountable to our ratepayers for our decision making,” he said.

“That is why we have brought tenders into the public realm, so it is obvious how we make our decisions around large contracts.”

He said public satisfaction surrounding sealed road quality can improve.

“Roads are part of council’s core business, and there’s been a strong commitment to roads funding in our current 2020/21 council budget.

“We will continue to strive for improvement in this area. However, overall these indicators show the City of Ballarat is heading in the right direction to improve its service delivery, its governance and its transparency for its ratepayers,” Cr Moloney said.

With a Community Engagement Policy, Procurement Policy, new 10-year Financial Plan, Revenue and Rating Plan, Risk Management Framework, and performance reporting, the municipality addressed 23 items on the governance and management checklist. An Asset Plan will be developed in 2022.

In comparison to other similar local government areas charging an average of $1901.71, the City’s median rate per property assessment is also less with a charge of $1869.82.