RATEPAYERS have until Friday (26 April) to comment on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s proposed 2019/20 budget.
The mayor Cr David Gill said he had already received “a lot of feedback” from beach box owners facing a rise from a flat $445 a year licence fee to up to $1200 (“Cashing in on beach boxes” The News 9/4/19).
Cr Gill last week said licence fees for bathing boxes had been $50 a year in 1980 but since then their holders had been able to sell them for “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.
“If they’re complaining about the cost, why not put the licence on the market,” he said.
Cr Gill said the shire had “listened to your feedback to fund the projects, initiatives and services that meet your needs and expectations” when framing the proposed budget.
“The proposed budget includes changes to some elements of the rating strategy, including a focus on green wedge protection and an increase to the waste service charge,” Cr Gill said.
The largest expenditure in the $69.9 million 2019/20 capital works budget is $45m preliminary works for the Rosebud Aquatic Centre.
Other capital works include:
$2.1m Mornington Community Centre; $2m Crib Point Recreation Reserve pavilion and change rooms; $2.3m on buildings; $9.1m roads and road safety; $2.4m footpaths and trails; $5.4m parks, open spaces and streetscapes; $3.3m drainage; $3.3m leisure and community centres.
A $3.8m priority projects program includes integrated transport planning; wastewater management; Tootgarook Wetland and green wedge management; Tyabb-Somerville recycled water scheme; weed management; and township planning.
Details: mornpen.vic.gov.au/budget or phone 1300 850 600.
Rates review
THE state government last week announced a “full review” of the state’s municipal rating system.
Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek said the review will be undertaken by an independent panel led by former Royal Children’s Hospital and City of Melbourne CEO, Dr Kathy Alexander.
The panel is expected to present the results of its review in March 2020.
Mr Somyurek said the existing rates cap “which has stopped a decade of average annual six per cent increases” would remain.
The panel will look at municipal rates and charges; rating exemptions and concessions applying to land; and, the autonomy of local governments to apply a rating system that considers local factors.
Details: localgovernment.vic.gov.au
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 23 April 2019
