Mystery over Bruce Bishop car park funds

THE council has allegedly refused to divulge what happened to millions of dollars from developer contributions given to a special fund to build and maintain the Bruce Bishop car park.

Save Surfers Paradise secretary Deborah Kelly claims in an affidavit lodged in the Supreme Court in Brisbane that the $25 million Surfers Paradise facility was built using a combination of developer contributions and developer funds.

Save SP is seeking an injunction to stop council from selling the car park arguing it breached a statutory trust because “the money raised will be used for purposes other than those represented”.

Ms Kelly in her affidavit said the council had not provided “a considerable number of requested documents” in re- sponse to a Right to Information request, leading to a complaint to the Office of Information Commissioner.

She said it appeared the debt on the car park was paid off in 2008 and the balance of developer contributions in the trust was $2048,277.

“This balance has remained static since June 2012. We have requested a comprehensive statement of the Trust Fund since its inception under Right to Information applications. It is still awaited,” she said.

Council minutes suggested the car park had an operating profit of more than $1 million each year but Save SP was unaware if the profits were being placed in the fund.

Developers pay a contribution in lieu of car parking spaces which requires them to outlay $83,634 per space if their building cannot provide enough parking for staff and clients.

Spreadsheets provided to the group show more than $4.4 million was levied and collected between 1986 and 2011 from 20 developers or landowners.

Retired District Court judge Clive Wall wrote to council CEO Dale Dickson in August last year asking about the trust fund.

“As per legislative requirements, all funds collected for car parking in Surfers Paradise have been applied for that purpose. Any unspent funds are retained in a specific account for parking,” he replied.

Mr Wall later wrote back asking “to where/what places have the funds been applied?”

City solicitor David Montgomery replied “I do not propose to provide this information through an administrative release” and a response would be considered in an RTI.