Funding short-changed

You can imagine the jolly good belly laugh we all had in The Ensign office when I pointed out to my work colleagues that the Federal Government’s latest Roads to Recovery funding ‘‘boost’’ as it was headlined, included a paltry $322 for the City of Wodonga.

Clearly, we scoffed, some poor media person had left off a few zeroes.

Almost better to be left off the list like Benalla was rather than have attention drawn to such a measly amount.

What would one get for $322? Perhaps filling in one pothole? Or would just mixing up the bitumen cost more than that?

Before publishing the apparent error, I decided it would be best to check.

Firstly, I duly added up the amounts. Turns out it’s just $10 short of the total for regional Victoria of $1 083 440.

Having studied basic accounting, whether the balance sheet is out by $10 or $1 million, it’s still not something is wrong.

So I rang the media contact for Senator Bridget MacKenzie who informed me that the amount was indeed correct.

A full $322, the explanation being it is just a quarterly amount. So hopefully more will be in the offing.

Still confused, I contacted the City of Wodonga. It too confirmed the amount is correct.

It’s all the council has spent in the last quarter and very little roadworks are done during winter, apparently.

Which then made me wonder Benalla was left off the list?

I’m assured Benalla will rate a mention in the next round.

I vote that the $10 in credit go to Benalla, so we can balance the government’s books. in balance and why