After months of work and numerous debates, Council has finally set the 24/25 budget. Like last year, I wanted to wait until a decision was made before providing some commentary on the budget passed.
The Good
Unlike last year, this budget doesn’t include any ‘stocking fillers’, every new service funded is a quality project that will have a tangible benefit to our community
Suffolk Reserve in Hawthorndene will be getting a much needed public toilet
Two pedestrian islands will be installed along Hawthorndene Drive to help residents cross this increasingly busy road and encourage people to walk to and from school
After a trial last year, Council’s Tree Assistance Fund to help owners of large trees maintain them is now a permanent fixture in the budget
Funding for Hawthorndene Oval & Apex Park to have a much-needed masterplan developed to look at the precinct holistically
Central Blackwood has funding for two key planning studies:
Stage 1: Assessment of traffic, parking, pedestrian movement and accessibility
Stage 2: Comprehensive plan for public realm improvements, greening etc
Resourcing provided to help Council’s long-term plans to assist residents in greening their verges
Pasadena is getting a fully-fledged Community Centre – a much-needed investment in an area that has been overlooked by Council for decades
Increased investment in Council’s role in assisting and supporting older residents or those with a disability in our community
The Bad
Like last year, a number of projects in this budget should have been funded years ago e.g. Mortlock Park Upgrade – As a chamber, I feel we are playing catch-up on funding projects which were required by the community a long time ago.
New footpath construction has been cut again despite having significant support in the budget consultation for their inclusion
After funding an upgrade for the Gil Langley Building at Mortlock Park in last year’s budget, Council then went out to consultation on the project. Unsurprisingly, residents came back supporting the larger building option which was not budgeted for. This required additional funding in the budget this year and more critically, will see Council have to fund an additional $1.2 million on the project for baseball infrastructure etc on top of the more expensive building. On completion, Council will spend more of ratepayer’s money on this project than Tiwu Kumangka.
I believe some project should have been deferred from consideration this year
The Mixed
This budget includes a one-off (at the moment) rate rebate for those on a Pensioner Concession Card, Veteran Gold Card or Low-Income Health Care Card. This rebate is a double-edged sword. While it mitigates the financial impact of the rate rise this year, next year these residents will essentially see a double rate increase unless the rebate is funded recurringly.
Alternatively, if you fund the rebate as an ongoing cost, then everyone else is financially impacted to pay for this. This is a vexed decision particularly given many other groups in our community are struggling with cost of living currently, particularly those with mortgages and young families.
The best financial relief from Council rates are lower rate rises for everyone in my opinion.
Budget Consultation
As an experiment this year, I letterboxed some 1,300 properties in Hawthorndene, encouraging residents to participate in the consultation. Initially, I was disappointed that only 17 residents from Hawthorndene responded, not very many given the cost and effort to letterbox. However, of the 113 responses in total to the consultation, Hawthorndene had the highest number of responses for an individual suburb. So maybe it was a success?
Budget Adoption
Council went out to consultation on a 6.75% rate rise. Given the public feedback received to the budget, I moved an option for a 6.36% rise, which excluded the additional Tree Maintenance Team, Civic Receptions and included a much-needed public toilet at Suffolk Reserve. This was supported by the Council chamber on June 18. On July 9, the budget returned to the chamber for final confirmation. A motion was moved to re-add the Additional Tree Maintenance Team to the budget, landing a final number of 6.98% which I did not support. I do understand the arguments around re-including it but believe we would have been better off delaying this service increase for later, especially given the other tree resourcing needs that Council has on the horizon, including the addition of a new arborist to assist with processing development applications. The workload in this area has increased significantly due to the new tree protections – something we are thankful for.
This budget option was adopted by the chamber on July 16.