Excessive spending

Baw Baw Shire Council yet again never ceases to amaze me with their excessive spending ideas. Only recently they spent several million dollars of ratepayers’ money on updating the West Gippsland Arts Centre.

Now they are pushing ahead with plans to waste another $13.9 million on yet another redevelopment of the same building to take the seating capacity from 500 to 750 seats.

What this means is we will have to pay approximately $65,000 for each extra seat. When do their excesses ever stop.

Only a very small percentage of Baw-Baw residents can actually afford to use the centre, so why do we need another debt for the shire and ratepayers to be burdened with.

The existing arts centre is more than adequate for ratepayers’ needs. Isn't it time that this council showed a bit of prudent financial management and only go ahead with the project if there is minimal financial burden to the ratepayers of our shire?

When the idea was originally floated by the council they said that the re-development wouldn't burden ratepayers greatly because of the grants that were expected from the state and federal governments and community fund raising.

With the $4.9 million expected from the Federal government still in doubt, I implore that the project only be put out to tender, if and only when the funding is approved by both State and Federal Governments.

The only grant that is secured is the $4 million from the state government. So if the $4.9 million expected from the federal government isn't secured that will leave ratepayers with a financial burden of a 9.9 million dollar shortfall