A Moorabool community grant allocation for a golf club divided councillors, with some arguing that a privately owned course should not be eligible for funding.
Raised at the 5 November council meeting, 12 projects were recommended by council officers for funding, out of 16 applications.
The 12 successful applicants were recommended to receive a share of about $95,284 in funding from an available pool of $190,400.
One of the grants recommended was $50,000 towards a new sprinkler system, requested by the Bacchus Marsh Golf Club under the ‘community development’ funding category.
This application divided councillors, with Cr John Keogh kicking off the debate by questioning the community group status of the golf club.
“The way I see it, [the] community grants programs is to grant community organisations funding to achieve goals within council funding criteria to benefit their community,” Cr Keogh said.
“I was amazed when I was informed that the Bacchus Marsh Golf Club application … fulfilled the criteria, allowing for a gift of $50,000 – that’s right, $50,000 – to upgrade their irrigation system,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned, a community grant should never be used to fund a privately owned club.”
In light of this, Cr Keogh said he was concerned about the fact the Mount Edgerton Reserve Committee had recently approached council regarding a grant towards children’s playground equipment at the site but was told “there was no money in the budget” and there were “many community projects in front of it”.
Cr Sheila Freeman also objected to the motion, saying she would like to view the criteria and that there are plenty of community groups across Moorabool in need of funding.
Cr Rod Ward said having sat through the selection process for community grants, he wanted to reinforce that officers “diligently apply very, very strict criteria to the five program categories”.
“I don’t think that golf clubs or tennis clubs should be treated any differently to basketball clubs. They are based on memberships, however, they’re open up to the public,” Cr Ward said.
“If they’re going to improve the facilities for public use, why should they be treated any differently?”
Cr Ward said he was disappointed to see the remaining funds from the program not allocated and would like to discuss how to support Mount Edgerton through the next round of funding.
