Fines, fees boost City Hall coffers

CITY FINANCES 2016-2017 Rates and charges: Statutory fees and fines: Employee costs: Total debt:

RATE capping did little to halt the resident-driven revenue growth of the Geelong council, new figures reveal.

While the State Government imposed a maximum 2.5 per cent rate rise on councils for 2016-17, the City of Greater Geelong boosted its coffers through increased collections in fines and fees.

Driven by hikes in parking fines and planning permits, the council reaped an extra $1.95 million in statutory fees and fines — a rise of 16.27 per cent.

Parking fees went up 4.68 per cent to $9.59 million, while user fees (which include areas such as aged services, leisure centres and waste management) rose by the same figure.

Total rates and charges revenue increased by 5 per cent to $205.4 million.

The details are contained in the council’s financial report for 2016-17, which was released on Tuesday night. $205.4m (up 5%) $13.94m (up 16.2%) $142.9m (up 5.13%)

$45.5m (down $9.3m) forecast shows that the loan balance will rise annually over the next three years.

Finance and strategy director Peter Anderson said the total result saw a surplus that was $8.9 million less than the council had budgeted for.

“The ... accounts record a satisfactory period of operation with a $46.2 million surplus, high closing cash balances of $103 million and significant asset growth to $2.2 billion,” he said.

The council’s employee costs rose 5.13 per cent to $142.9 million.

More than $5 million was spent on consultants — a rise of 52 per cent — with the use of casual staff and supplementary labour also soaring.

Figures show that the three administrators, CEO Kelvin Spiller and eight key management roles cost the council $2.98 million in 2016-17.

Thirty-two other senior officers had a total renumeration of more than $140,000 each, combining for a total of $5.46 million.