Cr: There’s not enough money

Agroup representing small municipal councils in Victoria’s northwest is busy assessing what the Federal Budget and an opposition budget response might mean for them in the near future.

Rural Council Victoria’s Rural North West committee representative and Hindmarsh Shire councillor Rob Gersch said it was important to fully comprehend the ‘fine-print’ of federal funding before assessing its specific impact on northwest Victorians.

Cr Gersch said state and federal government funding remained integral to the survival of many rural councils that were not fiscally self-sustainable on rates and service charges alone.

“The majority of small council funding comes from either state or federal funding and we are not fussy on which it comes from,” he said.

“We in rural councils just cannot survive on rates funding alone.

“In Hindmarsh, about 40 percent of our funding is through rates and about 60 percent is through service charges and grants.

“Our residents can’t afford to pay higher rates, even though our rate charges are capped. But even if they were not, putting rates up wouldn’t help us. People just don’t have the capacity to pay anymore.”

Cr Gersch said road funding remained the costliest expense for rural councils.

He said government grants also remained the most reliable way of funding road and infrastructure upgrades and maintenance even though government grants needed to be applied for every year.

“There is just not enough money. I hope governments realise rural councils don’t have self-sustaining capacity – we need support,” he said.

Cr Gersch said it was particularly important rural councils were not asked to match government funding dollar for dollar as a condition of grant acceptance.

Rural Councils Victoria chair and Southern Grampians councillor Mary-ann Brown was more critical of the budget.

She said she welcomed the continuation of financial assistance and programs including Roads to Recovery, Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Bridge Renewal programs.

However, she said rural Victorians needed the next Federal Government to step up to its responsibilities.

“The latest ABS statistics show there has been a big shift to rural and regional areas from metropolitan Melbourne,” she said.

“It is fabulous to finally see population growth in rural Victoria, but we need the federal government to help with resources to deal with the extra strain that population growth places on rural and regional infrastructure.

“Rural Councils Victoria is calling on the next Federal Government to invest in agedcare, homes, roads, health, broadband, mobile services, emergency services, bridges and in the financial viability of struggling rural councils and their communities.”

Cr Brown said unfortunately the budget offered nothing new of significance for rural Victoria.

“The budget is disappointing for rural Victorians,” she said.