June Council Meeting news bites

Published on 28 June 2022

Council Meeting News Bites June.png

Northern Grampians Shire Council held its council meeting on Monday, 27 June 2022 in person in the Perry Room, St Arnaud Town Hall at 12.30pm.

Public Question Time

Council agreed to bring forward Public Question Time so that Questions With Notice from the community regarding the Budget could be heard.

  • Questions from Anne Hughes concerning library services, Walkers Lake and Wild Horses Festival: Council responded that $417,000 has been allocated to the library service in the annual budget. Council advised that the Council Action Plan 2022-23 lists outcomes to implement the Walkers Lake management plan, access tracks and signage and has set aside $75,000 in the Budget for its implementation. Council advised that the native vegetation clearance by the Wild Horses Festival organisers in Carapooee was done in accordance with the permit and that no further native vegetation clearance permits had been sought.
  • Question from Tania Walter regarding returning farm rates to their historical average: Council's revised Revenue & Rating Plan includes a four-year roadmap to return the amount of rates paid by the farm category to the historical average of 32.5% by 2025/26. The 2022/23 budget is the first year of the new floating differential model which reduces the total amount of rates paid by the farm category to 36.2%. If Council did nothing, this would have seen the farm category paying a 40.9% of total rates (up from 37.4% in 2021/22).  Modelling to return the farm rate to 32.5% within one year showed that a greater number of ratepayers in the community would be adversely affected.  While working within the current constraints of the rating system, Council considers the staged approach to be the most equitable way of returning the distribution of the rates bill to the historical averages.
  • Question from Prue McAllister, Avon Plains Banyena Landcare Group advocating for the reinstatement of an Environmental and Sustainability Officer: Council replied that a specific resource dedicated to environmental sustainability has not been considered because environmental sustainability has already been woven into council’s practices.


Council Plan 2021-25 and Council Action Plan 2022-23

Council adopted the revised Council Plan and associated action plan for the second year of the Plan.

Draft Asset Plan

Council endorsed the plan and invites the community to comment on the draft for a period of four weeks.

Infrastructure Plan

Council agreed to adopt the Infrastructure program as proposed for the forthcoming year.

Council Budget

Council resolved to adopt the Budget 2022-23, comprising the 2022/23 financial year plus the subsequent three financial years 2023/24 to 2025/26, pursuant to Section 94 of the Local Government Act 2020.

The rates and charges declared for the 2022/23 financial year aim to raise $19,012,000 inclusive of general rates of $8,494,000 from the residential category, $5,488,000 from the farming category, $769,000 from commercial category and $398,000 from industry.  A general residential rate of 0.4738 cents in the dollar of the Capital Improved Value was declared for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. For this period, Council also declared to a farming differential rate of 0.1854 cents in the dollar of the Capital Improved Value, a commercial differential rate of 0.5365 cents in the dollar of the Capital Improved Value and an industrial differential rate of 0.5365 cents in the dollar of the Capital Improved Value.

Outcome of Closed Council Section

Council awarded the tender C6.2021/2022 for the Stawell Library Refurbishment to Onley’s Holdings Pty Ltd for their submitted lump sum price.

Livestream link: https://youtu.be/ryn8RSKIHdU

 

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