Budget clears council

$ 1.4m approved for Ross River clean- up

TOWNSVILLE City Council finally passed its 2014- 15 Budget yesterday after four weeks of deliberations.

There were no new changes made to the Budget, and ratepayers will receive a 1.87 per cent increase on their next rates notice, due in August.

Mayor Jenny Hill lauded the success of the Budget in keeping the rate rise below the inflation rate, despite her signature hard- rubbish collection being trashed by a majority of councillors a fortnight ago.

“This is a Budget that will have the lowest ( rise) in the overall rates and utilities charges since amalgamation,” she said.

Cr Hill had proposed her Budget on June 10, and then the Townsville First opposition councillors moved several amendments to scrap the hard- rubbish collection and keep the landfill voucher system on June 24, with documents finally approved at yesterday’s council meeting.

As part of the Budget, the council will spend $ 1.4 million this financial year to start remediation work on degraded sections of Ross River bank near Bicentennial Park, which have been spewing rubbish into the waterway from a decades- old landfill.

The river bank had become unstable after a big wet season in 2011- 12, and rubbish and pollutants from when the site was used as a landfill in the 1970s have been spilling into the waterway ever since.

Heavy metals including cadmium, copper, lead and zinc above recommended levels have been recorded in the groundwater near Bicentennial Park, along with other contaminants.

The council allocated $ 1.4 million this financial year to remediate the worst 280m section of the river bank after the wet season, with the remaining works to be completed in 2015- 16.

The total cost of the project is $ 2.9 million.

Infrastructure Committee chairman Cr Trevor Roberts said the council was committed to cleaning up the area.

“The Budget funding means the council can now get on with fixing a problem that has been an eyesore and an environmental concern for everyone,” he said.

“Erosion over time has exposed sections of a former city dump, which we all know now should never have been put in that location in the first place.

“Council is staging the works over two successive financial years to ease the upfront cost on ratepayers.”

The council plans to start work in April, after completing the detailed design and obtaining environmental approvals.