Cardinia votes for 2 per cent rate rise
After a few months schooling from home year 12 students at St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School in Warragul are happy to be back on campus and having face to face contact with school friends and teachers.
Among those enjoying the “almost back to normal” was Stacie Myers who said it made learning a lot easier.
It is better than being stuck at home, you can work alongside your friends and really bounce off each other, she said.
Max L’Hotellier said it was great to return to school and sell all of his friends again.
But he also added he missed sleeping in and getting out of bed five minutes before the day’s first class began.
For Sophie Kovac what she loves is coming back to school and seeing her teachers and friends but she admits she also loved her pyjamas and more time in bed while home schooling.
Cardinia Shire Council has voted for a two per cent increase in its general rate for the 2020-2021 financial year, the limit of what it was allowed under the State government’s Fair Go Rates System cap.
Despite the increase the council is expecting to operate at a deficit of $585,000 for the year.
In an executive summary to its budget papers adopted last week Cardinia council attributed most of the expected deficit to its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It stated it had implemented a $1.6 million COVID-19 support package to assist community members, businesses and support groups cope with the financial impacts of the pandemic.
Another major influence was that the cost of council’s contractual obligations, such as building and asset maintenance, garbage contracts and the State government’s landfill levy, were rising at a higher pace than the rate increase.
General rates are expected to produce revenue of almost $83 million in 2020-2021.
New capital works will account for $36.7 million of outlays including more than $14 million for land acquisitions.
An amount of $42.8 million has been earmarked for asset renewal and upgrade projects, most of which will be spent on roads.
An overview of the budget by mayor Jeff Springfield and chief executive officer Carol Jeffs said the main aim was to strike a balance between maintaining essential services, providing the community and businesses with some financial relief and stimulating the shire’s economy to provide local jobs once the threat of coronavirus had passed.
We are aware many members of the community area doing it tough, they stated.
Cr Springfield and Ms Jeffs said three stages of support related to COVID-19 impacts had already been launched.
These involved some relief to businesses and the community, payment plans for those suffering financial hardship and a fast turnaround of community support grants.
The budget papers also listed a range of external factors that would likely affect services the council delivers.
It said COVID-19 would adversely impact cash flow and have significant ongoing implications due to an anticipated downturn in the property market and development activity.
Cost shifting, where the amount local government receives to provide services on behalf of state and federal governments falls short of actual costs, adds to the financial burden as does that cost of council’s role in maintaining Crown land reserves and infrastructure owned by other state authorities.
Council also plans to put into reserve $500,000 a year to meet any calls on it to make up possible shortfalls in the Defined Benefits Superannuation scheme.
It said the fund’s benefits index had dropped from 107.1 per cent to 100 per cent between June last year and the end of March and was expected to deteriorate further because of share market decline.
Councils would be asked to make further contributions if the index value dropped to 97 per cent or less.