Council parking backflip
COUNCIL PARKING FIASCO
AN “embarrassed” Geelong council last night ditched price hikes at hundreds of city carparks after a crisis meeting to deal with the furore the surprise fees caused.
Unlike rises flagged elsewhere, hikes — some of up to 125 per cent — at 291 spaces were not made public in the city’s Budget, blindsiding drivers when they took effect on Monday.
Councillors, too, were unaware of those increases when they passed the Budget and last night voted to wind back all the new fees that were not in the document.
GEELONG council has overturned this week’s hidden parking price hikes near the city’s waterfront.
“Embarrassed” councillors last night voted to review the Budget they approved just last week to find if there were any other hidden increases to fees and charges.
Their decision means 291 all-day parking bays near the waterfront will go back to costing $5.80 and $6.80 from Monday.
That was what they cost before City Hall jacked them up to $13 this week.
Other all-day parking bays in the city that were increased to $13 this week will stay at that price.
The City of Greater Geelong councillors voted to dump the fee increases for capped on-street all-day, three and four-hour parking in the CBD, saying they were “blindsided” because the fee hikes of 125 and 90 per cent weren’t detailed in the Budget papers by City staff.
Mayor Bruce Harwood said the elected representatives had “felt the wrath” of angry ratepayers since the bungle was revealed by the Geelong Advertiser at the start of the week.
The council also moved to “review and investigate the oversight” and launch a review of the 2019/20 Budget fees and charges for any other secret “significant increase in fees and charges”.
Cr Bruce Harwood called for last night’s emergency meeting earlier this week because some of the parking fee increases had been “unintentionally” pushed through without public notice.
“We’re not here to make excuses,” Cr Harwood said. “As the Mayor, I apologise to the community for what has occurred.”
Councillor Anthony Aitken said the council’s intent was not to find a scapegoat for the apparent oversight, but to ensure it never occurred again — also revealing council’s chief executive had personally apologised to all councillors.
“This is embarrassing, it’s embarrassing for the CEO, it’s embarrassing for the councillors,” Cr Aitken said.
“We have admitted a mistake has been made. The appropriate action is we shouldn’t actually have these fees and charges introduced.”
The largest parking fee increases covered 291 parking spaces on Bellerine and Brougham streets, and Eastern Beach, Ritchie Boulevard and Western Beach, where parking now costs $13 — a rise of $7.20 or $6.20, depending on the bay.
The parking fee flip is expected to cost council up to $600,000 in lost revenue annually.
Council will also develop a strategy for setting parking fees in the Geelong CBD to inform the next budget process.