Councillors to fight new levy

AT this week’s ordinary Golden Plains Shire council meeting, councillors elected to write to Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes and local members Michaela Settle and Christine Couzens with concerns about the proposed Essential Services and Volunteer Fund.

The State Government announced last year that the Fire Services Property Levy, which was collected by councils on behalf of the government, would be replaced with the Essential Services and Volunteer Fund from July.

The new levy will support VICSES, Triple Zero Victoria, the state control centre, Forest Fire Management Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria, as well as the CFA and Fire Rescue Victoria.

For certain sectors, the new levy may be up to 1.85 times higher than the existing one and more for individual properties.

“This is just totally outrageous,” Cr Des Phelan said.

“The State Government is turning us into tax collectors on their behalf, and I think it’s about time it stopped.

“If they don’t stop this the CFA will collapse because people will just walk away.”

The new levy will still be administered by the shire and may require IT system upgrades to implement the changes.

“At the end of the day, we are the ones who are going to have the burden of upgrading our IT systems to manage the State Government’s levies,” Cr Helena Kirby said.

 

Land lease gets go ahead

A majority of councillors voted to lease a portion of land located within the Meredith Works Depot to Amplitel, acting on behalf of Telstra, for 30 years.

Community engagement was conducted last year where two survey respondents supported the proposal, two respondents were unsure, and three respondents did not support the idea.

Cr Emma Robbins said it was important to remember the decision was about a lease agreement, not whether Amplitel could build a tower on the site.

“I just want to reiterate that the question before us tonight isn’t whether they can build the tower but whether they can lease the land,” she said.

“There will be further consultation that requires sharing detailed designs.”

Cr Gavin Gamble did not support the motion and questioned why the company could not share other nearby towers.

“It’s generally accepted that telecommunication tower providers share their infrastructure wherever possible and that’s encouraged,” he said.

“There’s seven existing infrastructure towers within the vicinity – there’s one that’s only used for NBN that’s only 700 metres away.”

 

Independent panel to be appointed

An independent planning panel will be appointed to consider the position of all parties in relation to the rezoning of areas of Ormond Street, Bannockburn.

Last September, a planning scheme amendment to rezone 5, 20, 25 and 30 Ormond Street from farming zone to general residential zone was prepared and exhibited.

Ten submissions were received, and those from four community groups and a resident about the protection of environmental and cultural heritage of Bruce Creek remain unresolved, as do submissions from neighbours about the impact on amenity.

“This is generally one of the easiest things that we as councillors can support because we are going off to the independent umpire,” Cr Owen Sharkey said.

“We are actually removed from the process; the applicant will be covering the cost of the panel hearing.”

 

Roads review report

A majority of councillors supported a notice of motion by Cr Sharkey to investigate the possibility of having an independent roads service review.

The notice of motion requested the council receive a report on any independent monitoring of the council-managed road and drainage network at the April meeting, including the benefits and drawbacks of conducting an independent review and its costing as part of budget deliberations.

“I personally don’t know if it’s a fantastic idea or if it’s something we should 100 per cent do but hopefully through that briefing session we could get a good understanding of if it’s something that would be a really good investment of money,” Cr Sharkey said.

“What I’m hoping we get out of this is an independent view.”

Cr Gamble did not support the idea and said it shows a lack of confidence in council officers.

“I think we could ask for a report from our officers on these issues without having to have this expression of lack of confidence in their understanding,” he said.

 

Councillor expenses under budget

Councillor expenses for the first and second quarters of this financial year were noted and came in significantly under budget.

Expenses for the period totalled $10,407, which is 19.75 per cent of the annual budget.

 

New internal resolution procedure

The councillor internal resolution procedure was adopted by councillors as required by the Local Government Act (2020).

The act was amended in October 2024 to include a new councillor code of conduct model to provide uniform rules across Victoria.

Internal resolution procedures were not included in the code and councils were required to develop their own.

 

Water plan looks to future

Councillors adopted the Bannockburn Integrated Water Management Plan, which was created to help the Shire manage the impacts and demands of population growth.

The report’s recommendations address water management issues for the next 30 years.