Setting the platform

ALL organisations and tiers of government across the country are facing heavy financial pressure due to rising costs.

Unfortunately, Council is no different.

As a result, this year’s budget is about being financially responsible.

It is important for Council to concentrate on long-term sustainability as much as the short-term, and that means the difficult decisions being made now will help set us up for the future, while still allowing us to deliver a number of terrific projects and important community services in the year ahead.

Council made a commitment to listen to community feedback on our proposed budget, and we thank everyone, and all of the community groups, who made submissions.

We have heard that feedback, taken it on board, and responded.

Across the Greater Geelong region, we have allocated more funding for libraries, reinstated funding for the Kardinia Aquatic Centre to operate during winter, and restored funding towards surf lifesaving at our ocean beaches.

I trust that the community will welcome these changes, particularly residents within the Bellarine Ward, who will benefit from the budget on multiple fronts.

There are many positive stories to discuss from this budget.

We are continuing to strongly invest in new facilities and maintenance of our existing assets and there is a huge range of projects – 254 in total over four years – that have been funded.

We will see many of these make great progress over the next year with funding now reconfirmed.

Some exciting ones that come to mind include the Collendina Reserve pavilion upgrade in Ocean Grove, which will receive $694,000 in 2023-24, the Barwon Heads Bowling Club pavilion, which will receive $200,000 in 2023-24, and the Barwon Heads Tennis Club court resurfacing and pavilion and lighting upgrade, which will receive $239,000 in 2023-24.

The money for Barwon Heads Bowling Club will complete a $1.2 million pavilion, which has been supported by $500,000 from the federal government and $200,000 from the Victorian government.

This is expected to be completed in the next few months.

On top of this, there is future funding allocated for a significant project at Devlins Road Reserve (Kingston), in Ocean Grove.

This covers the detailed design and construction of a pavilion, sports fields, sports lighting and other infrastructure.

There is $750,000 allocated for this project in 2023-24, $1.7 million in 2024-25, and $2.565 million in 2025-26, totalling $5.015 million over three years.

Further funding has been provided for a number of other projects across the Bellarine Ward as well.

This includes an allocation of $529,000 for the redevelopment of the St Leonards Skate Park, $427,700 for a new practice wicket at St Leonards Lake Reserve, $1.66 million for a pavilion and lighting upgrade at Leopold Tennis Club, $743,000 for car park upgrades at Clifton Springs Boat Harbour and $58,559 for facility maintenance at the Potato Shed.

With global construction costs and cost of living pressures continuing to rise, we have been open about the fact that our money won’t stretch as far as it once did.

We also won’t be in a position to make changes to the list of capital projects that will be placed on hold.

We understand this will be disappointing for those who made submissions on specific projects.

But I want to make the point that these are still on our agenda, and we will be looking for ways to deliver them, including creating affordability in our own budget as soon as we can and seeking external funding.

We aim to be a high performing council that provides outstanding value to our community, and this budget will set the platform for us to do this in a sustainable way in the future.