Wellington’s budget switch knocked back

A SURF Coast Shire councillor’s push for more “transparency” in the budget has been knocked back by her fellow councillors.

Cr Heather Wellington moved the notice of motion at the council’s meeting on January 23, arguing that the shire needed to “deliver basic services and maintain key infrastructure at a standard that meets its statutory obligations and community expectations”.

Cr Wellington said the motion came about in the context of the next budget being developed.

“We’ve never actually taken a bottom-up approach to the budget to say what the fundamental basic needs of the community are in relation to council’s expenditure of community money, and what the priorities are in how we meet them.” Using planning compliance, roads maintenance and asset maintenance as examples, Cr Wellington said the budget should be presenting information in a different way, showing the gap between what was being spent and what was needed.

She said there were many worthy causes, but the council could not and should not take on everything.

“It might be legitimate to say ‘let’s diminish our spending on unsealed roads’, but it should be an informed conversation with the community – do you want us to do that, or would you rather us spend money on a rainbow flag, or on a solar energy program, or something else that might be attractive to people in the community? Maybe it is, but let’s have the conversation.”

Speaking against the motion, Cr Libby Coker said a recent study of the shire’s young people showed that renewable energy and climate change was the most important priority for them.

“We need to be leaders, and we need to deliver on things that give people a future.”

Cr Wellington’s motion, which called for officers to prepare an “outcome-focused analysis of the adequacy of the council’s past and planned investment” in those three areas from 2015/16 onwards was lost, three votes to five.

An alternative motion moved by Cr Martin Duke “affirming the importance to our community of council’s services” in those three areas and to continue the reform program was passed unanimously.

“This is a motherhood statement; it’s impossible to vote against it,” Cr Wellington said.