Apr 11, 2023 2 min read

The Great Rates Heist

Roads, rates and rubbish is only part of the local government story. Are we in the south getting our fair share?

Has there ever been an Ordinary Community Members Forum to discuss Council funding of local parks, public toilets, repairing footpaths, providing community meeting venues?

Ever wonder where your rates go? The trite answer is "North".

The only playground upgrades (7) in Banyule occur in a small northern sector in 2022/23 while large swathes of the south cannot get even bare "open space" local parks. Choice of upgraded facilities for northerners, while southerners have been short-changed for over 100 years.

Banyule Council is a complex business, operating a monopoly on local government services delivery, garnering by property rates over $125 million annually, topping it off with nearly $50 million in direct fees & charges.

Well that is the local government system thrust upon us.

The more interesting question is how and where the funds are deployed.

Did you realise the discrepancy between the rates raised in each of Council's 9 wards?

Check out this table:

Sorry - this is 2 years old. Council has declined our requests for the 2022/23 version. They claim the system cannot generate the figures. Strange that it generated this 2021/22 set.

Note that the 2 southern wards - Chelsworth & Griffin, basically the area south of Banksia Street - generate as much revenue as any 3 other Council wards.

The Council wards are created to be nearly equal in population and area.

The difference in rates raised is due to property values.

Not too much drama there - some but not too much.

The drama centres on where, and for what, the Council revenue raised disproportionately in the south is spent.

Not nearly enough is spent on providing Council facilities and services in the south of Banyule - yet a MacLeod park/playground is redeveloped to award-winning status. Bells and whistles. Check it out, admire it, use it -after all we paid for it. Pity it is in MacLeod.

https://www.mammaknowsnorth.com.au/parks-and-playgrounds/macleod-village-green-playground

To be fair there are some projects in the pipeline for this great southern land.

The Ivanhoe Aquatic Centre in Waterdale Road is slated for a $24 million upgrade. A lot of money in any language - but is it prudent expenditure?

"We must "drown-proof" our children and particularly our migrants!" you say.

Certainly, we ought do that. But far more pedestrians are killed than people drown annually. And how many "water safety" programs need water slides, cafes, saunas, spas and other entertainments?

Perhaps better to invest in more basic pools at primary schools under the "Learn to Swim" banner.

🤣

Australian Institute of Sport figures show 2% of Australians use public swimming centres. Those who do likely use them multiple times, perhaps daily. 98% of the population do not use them at all, but we pay a lot for them.

Ivanhoe Park is also to receive big Council funding - it is a sports precinct and the sporting clubs will rejoice at their improvements and upgrades to pavilions and social facilities.

https://shaping.banyule.vic.gov.au/IvanhoeSports

Those of us wanting community houses, halls, public toilets, childcare centres and local parks where there are none at all will not rejoice.