THE Mayor tells us that this is a conservative budget.
How are we to fix the potholes, fix the open gutters, pave the roads and build footpaths etc with conservative budgets? We can’t! We need budgets that deal with the Bass Coast outstanding infrastructure issues.
The Population of the Bass Coast in the last seven years to the end of 2022 was growing at an average rate of 3.623 per cent. Has this growth been factored into the budgets and forward estimates? It would appear that it has not!
Note 9 of the budget and forward estimates tells us the council intends to borrow $13,424,000 and repay principal and interest of $16,163,000.
I understand the need to pay the interest, but I do not see the need to repay the principal. In addition, the note tells us that the Council is not borrowing any money in 2026/2027 and 2027/2028. which is unrealistic. There appears to be a $2,000,000 error between note 9 and note 15. But hey what’s a couple of million between friends! Council needs to explain.
Note 10 of the budget and forward estimates tells us the depreciation charge is $93,626,000 against an asset renewal expenditure of $60,626,000 and an asset upgrade expenditure of $18,327,000. This is a shortfall of $14,163,000 which is also unrealistic.
Note 12 of the budget and forward estimates tells us we are carrying an average of over $30,000,000 in cash and equivalents. Why? Surely this money can be spent on infrastructure.
There is so much fat in these budgets that it’s stupid. We need to start to fix the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast with these budgets.
I beg the council to set realistic budgets and not conservative budgets.
We need to fix the potholes etc.
Frank W Schooneveldt
