Sporting young citizens awarded – Golden Plains Shire council meeting briefs

TWO local young people were celebrated and received citizen recognition awards at the Golden Plains Shire’s council meeting on Tuesday, 28 June.

As acting chair of the meeting, deputy-mayor Cr Helena Kirby presented athletes Ruby Flett and Lachlan Flett with certificates that acknowledged them for their high-level sporting achievements.

“Ruby is 11 years old, lives in Inverleigh and has been playing cricket for five years. Ruby was recently selected and competed in the Team Vic 12 and under Girls Cricket Merit Team,” Cr Kirby said.

“Lachlan has been selected for the Australian team for the In-Line Hockey Championships and is competing in the USA in July 2022.

“We wish you all the best of luck in your endeavours and hope you succeed. The whole Shire is behind you.”

New budget approved

Councillors adopted the Budget 2022/23, which finance manger Fiona Rae said incorporates the 2022/23 rating fees and charges in accordance with section 96 of the Local Government Act 2020.

“The draft budget has been prepared based on the adopted principles within the 2021 to 2025 Council Plan and Financial Plan, within the framework of a 1.75 per cent rate cap increase, as mandated by the State Government,” she said.

Ms Rae said five pieces of public feedback were received in response to the draft, and a special meeting was held in June to consider them.

“I’d like to bring to attention changes between the budget placed on exhibition, and this version… which include an additional $115,000 reduction in garbage costs to reflect the final curb side collection costs, with a corresponding amendment to the garbage revenue.

“There’s an additional $519,000 in rate revenue from modelling, using the certified stage four evaluation data, and that has been used to reduce borrowings over the four years from 2022 to 23 out to 25 to 26,” she said.

“That’s resulted in our borrowings ratio reducing from 37.4 per cent down to 13.1 per cent in 25/26.”

After the sale of six lots on Lomandra Drive, Teesdale, the Shire has made a profit of $3.1 million, and the municipality received a $403,000 financial assistance grant in May.

Cr Clayton Whitfield said any budget that comes in “better than forecast is a great result.”

“It was expected to be a $412,000 deficit… but the work during this year has enabled the 2022/23 Budget to predict a surplus of $100,000 which is solid,” he said.

Community grants awarded

The first round of 2022 Community Strengthening Grants were approved by councillors.

Director community services Steven Segona said just over $78,000 worth of funding will be allocated to groups who have applied for support across the categories of community safety, creative communities, environment and sustainability, and healthy active living.

“Council’s contribution… will deliver some $234,000 in total value, and volunteer hours at around 1700 across 17 projects,” he said.

Beneficiaries include Napoleons Memorial Hall Committee, Woady Yaloak Historical Society, Linton and District Historical Society, Golden Plains Arts, Inverleigh Historical Society, Wallinduc Community Group, Smythesdale Progress Association, Turtle Bend Committee, Ross Creek and Friends of the Woady Landcare groups, Inverleigh Golf Club, Geelong Landcare Network, Ross Creek Tennis Club, Haddon Community Learning Centre, Bannockburn Inclusive, and the Bicycle Network.

Cr Owen Sharkey said “good investment in good clubs” helps the Shire’s “bottom line.”

“It’s without doubt the best allocation of funds I’ve seen in my time on council,” he said.

Mr Segona also noted that three 2022 Community Leadership Program projects will receive an increase in seed funding from $500 to $2500.

Community satisfaction surveyed

The results of a Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey have been released.

With 400 Shire residents interviewed over the phone, Mr Segona said there were a couple of main takeaways from the work done by independent group JWS Research.

“Overall, community perceptions of council performance have either improved or remained steady in general,” he said.

“We’ve got some positive movement in index scores recorded for categories around customer service, value for money, waste management, lobbying on behalf of the community, decisions made in the interest of community, and in consultation and engagement.

“These compare rather favourably with the trend of both the large rural and also all-Victorian council groups, which have tended to trend downward in all of those categories, whereas Golden Plains has either remained steady, or in fact in most cases, seen a bit of an increase in favourability of community perception there.”

He said areas where perception could be improved is around sealed and unsealed local roads, which is consistent with a broader trend amongst other peri-urban and rural municipalities.

CEO Eric Braslis said this data will be used to improve municipal services.