Shire spend: Surf Coast council adopts draft 2020/21 budget

THE Surf Coast Shire is pressing ahead with its budget for the coming financial year, saying its proposed spending measures are not only in response to the coronavirus pandemic but also for the years ahead.
Councillors adopted the draft 2020/21 budget at a special council meeting held outdoors at the council chambers in Torquay North on Tuesday afternoon and released it for public comment.
The budget proposes a 2 per cent rate increase – in line with the state government’s rate capping regime for the fifth year in a row – and $30 million to be spent on capital works.
In his introduction to the budget document, shire chief executive officer Keith Baillie said the council had recast its long-term financial plan to incorporate updated asset renewal allocations in accordance with its asset renewal funding strategy.
“The years ahead are quite different to recent years, with many assets nearing a condition or age where they will need reconstruction or replacement.”
He said this meant some asset renewal would occur in that particular financial year, but some would be delayed until there were sufficient funds in the asset renewal reserve.
Mr Baillie said the increase in the need to renew assets, combined with rate capping, meant that the council “cannot sustain the level of discretionary spending it has enjoyed in the past, until a long-term solution is found for council’s financial challenges”.
In her budget introduction, shire mayor Rose Hodge said some capital projects were already under way, such as the Surf Coast Multi-Purpose Stadium in Torquay and the redevelopment of pavilions at Lorne’s Stribling Reserve, and about half of the spend related to new works across the shire.
She said the council was putting forward the budget “at a very unusual time, with our community facing unexpected challenges and uncertainty”.
“This is a time when our community needs its council to continue to deliver important services and to be able to help our communities as much as ever, and progressing with our annual budget enables us to do that.”
Winchelsea Ward councillor Heather Wellington opposed the budget, and argued the council should accept the state government’s extension of the budget period and defer the process until the council better understood the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the community.
“A budget which imposes an additional rate burden on residents and businesses, while failing to do everything possible to assist ratepayers suffering financial hardship, cannot be justified in these uncertain and stressful times,” she said.