CITY BUDGET SNEAK PREVIEW
A $500,000 community hardship fund, money for ailing sport clubs, a rates freeze and big infrastructure spends will form the cornerstone of the City of Gold Coast’s budget out today.
The $1.7 billion ‘Road to Recovery’ budget includes significant investment in big-ticket items including a $28 million redevelopment of the Palm Beach Acquatic Centre (pictured).
“It’s been a balancing act with a focus on protecting livelihoods and lifestyle in these unprecedented times,” Mayor Tom Tate said yesterday.
MILLIONS of dollars will be poured into fast-tracking major infrastructure projects by the council in today’s budget in a bid to revive the Gold Coast’s devastated economy.
Mayor Tom Tate will this morning bring down his $1.7 billion “Roads to Recovery” budget aimed at creating jobs and providing relief to community groups left devastated by the COVID pandemic.
Big ticket items which will form the heart of the budget include:
● A freeze on rates and charges at 2019 levels, the first in the Gold Coast’s history.
● A $500,000 community hardship grants program.
● A recovery fund for Gold Coast sports clubs.
● Significant investment in infrastructure, including the $28 million redevelopment and modernisation of the Palm Beach Aquatic Centre.
Cr Tate said providing funding relief was a key plank of the budget.
“We know many of these groups have struggled to stay afloat during this period and we know this will get them up and running much quicker,” he said.
“We recognise these services provide lifelines to Gold Coasters and I would encourage groups to visit our website and apply as soon as possible.
“Our sporting groups will also have access to a significant recovery fund, something we all acknowledge is vital for a connected and vibrant community.”
The hardship fund will deliver one-off cash grants of up to $5000 for groups which deliver essential services to vulnerable residents and have faced devastating shortfalls in funding during the pandemic.
The Palm Beach development is one of several projects which have been fasttracked to create an immediate economic injection.
It is a big win for area councillor Daphne McDonald who has long lobbied for the project to proceed after securing funding for a masterplan several years ago.
The Bulletin understands funding will also be set aside for the next stage of the Home of the Arts (HOTA) at Evandale and for a business case into the Gold Coast light rail’s Burleigh to border extension.
“This budget has been one of the toughest budgets I have ever worked on,” Cr Tate said.
“It has been a true balancing act with a focus on protecting livelihoods and lifestyle during these unprecedented times.
“It’s a ‘Roads to Recovery’ budget and I am very proud of what our hard work has achieved.
“Our focus on roads, transport and infrastructure hasn’t changed and neither has our focus on rates.”
The Council slashed a range of fees and charges in March at the height of the pandemic as part of a $3 million initial package.
Roadside dining charges, commercial rents in cityowned properties and film application fees were waived until June 30.
The future of these charges will also be revealed this morning.
Gold Coast business leaders say they want to see the council provide funding relief for struggling small businesses.
GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has a date with destiny this morning as he unveils the city’s $1.7 billion budget.
Cr Tate has held the purse strings for the city since 2012 and has a commendable record for delivering rates rises at Consumer Price Index levels for every year of his previous two terms.
That’s as well as paying down significant amounts of debt.
This fiscal discipline has stood in contrast to the relative reckless abandon shown during the 2008-2012 term when rates and charges saw double-digit increases.
But this year will be in stark contrast, with the Gold Coast facing the greatest challenge – an existential crisis as it has been aptly put by tourism boss Annaliese Battista – in this city’s six decades.
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the city’s economy, bringing our $6 billion tourism industry to its knees and effectively shutting it down entirely.
Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost and more will follow. Good luck running a tourism economy with a 99 per cent drop in airline passenger traffic.
The federal and state governments have both poured billions into the economy in acts of fiscal intervention far in excess of that exercised by Kevin Rudd during the global financial crisis. The impact has been staggering as has the response. But it can’t go on forever either.
Now it’s council’s turn. However, City Hall doesn’t have the luxury of being able to run record deficits which will haunt generations to come – under legislation it must deliver a surplus.
Keeping the books in good order while funding job-creating infrastructure and community programs is a tricky needle to thread and it will take all the fiduciary skills Cr Tate and his team of councillors have to accomplish.
Revelations in today’s Bulletin of community grants and assistance funds to groups in need, as well as a likely rates freeze, are welcome and a strong start to what Cr Tate has already labelled the most difficult budget he has worked on.
Like Julius Caesar on his way to Rome, the die is cast and Cr Tate and his council must now cross the Rubicon into a world where the Gold Coast must survive and thrive under the spectre of COVID.