Wins for some, delays for others as city releases final budget

THE City of Greater Geelong adopted its final budget for the coming financial year this week, one it says “strikes the right balance” between cost-of-living relief, financial sustainability and measures to stimulate the local economy.

A small projected surplus of $509,000 has replaced a deficit of $3.4 million, however uncertainty remains around the costs associated with the city’s recent decision to continue delivering in-home aged care services.

A 2.5 per cent rate increase, below the 3 per cent cap set by the Victorian government, has been retained, while a range of permit fees, including the permit to burn fee, have been scrapped following the budget’s consultation process.

 

 

“We’ve committed to no new loans for four years. We’ve committed to reduce debt over the next four years and we’ve kept rate increases below the cap,” mayor Stretch Kontelj said, suggesting the city had earned “full marks” for its efforts.

“Any which one of those is an achievement in itself and we’ve achieved every single one in our first budget.

“I challenge any level of government to aspire to the same level of achievement. You will not find one in the whole of Australia.”

The North Shore and Barwon Heads football netball clubs are among the last-minute winners in this year’s budget, with funding allocated to improvements at the clubs’ respective home grounds, while funding for Pako Festa has been restored to $100,000, after the draft budget proposed a 20 per cent cut.

 

 

Planning will also begin to bolster footpath safety around Mount Duneed Regional Primary School, after Corangamite federal member Libby Coker pushed for improvements along Williams Road to be prioritised in her budget submission. The city has allocated $150,000 to the project.

A weekly market in Little Malop Street between Yarra and Moorabool streets, similar in nature to Tasmania’s Salamanca Market, is expected to launch in September, with $100,000 allocated, while the city’s two-hour free parking initiative, a key feature of the 2025-26 budget aimed at supporting the CBD’s embattled retailers, will begin on July 14.

But for residents living in Lara’s flood-prone Kyema Drive and surrounds, the wait for drainage improvements continues, with no funding allocated in the adopted budget, despite almost 40 per cent of the submissions received during the consultation process urging the project move forward.

 

 

Cr Anthony Aitken said he was “heartbroken” at the decision, but Cr Kontelj asserted the project is a “top priority”, noting the $1.3 million previously allocated to the upgrades “wouldn’t have achieved the outcome the community was looking for”, necessitating a new approach.

“We’ve got to move in a different direction,” he said. “There’ll certainly be next steps in this financial year, but I can’t say exactly what that will be.

“We’ll keep the community well-informed.”

The Norlane Community Centre has similarly been unsuccessful in its push to guarantee funding beyond the next financial year for a multi-staged redevelopment at its Rose Avenue site – the city instead saying “they’re in our mind” for future budgets – while a $1.5 million commitment pulled from the Portarlington Recreation Reserve in 2023 has also yet to be restored.