Melton residents can expect a 4.4 per cent rate rise this year as part of the council’s newly released draft budget.
Melton chief executive Kelvin Tori said the proposed budget kept borrowings to a minimum and increased the pensioner rebate.
Capital expenditure for the next financial year has been slashed by almost 50 per cent, from $50.1 million to $25.4 million.
Capital works allocations include completing projects such as the Bridge Road Reserve Athletics and Hockey Centre and pavilion, the Burnside Community Centre and Early Years facility and redevelopment of the aged-care precinct in McKenzie Street.
Mr Tori said the proposed capital works budget could not be compared with the 2014-15 budget because it had included works carried over from the previous budget.
“In that $50 million [2014-15], there was a significant carry-through from the previous year of works that we weren’t able to complete,” Mr Tori said.
He said about $15 million was carried over and added to what would have been a $35 million capital works budget – in line with this year’s $25 million proposed budget.
“There’s no such thing as enough; we could spend $200 million without blinking an eyelid,” he said of capital works expenditure.
Mr Tori said a high-level strategic resource plan for 2015-16 to 2017-18 had been developed to help the council develop a budget within a longer-term financial framework.
He said a significant capital works program would be sought in the future. “It’s a fiscally responsible budget that has an eye out to the future, but it maintains the high standard of service delivery that council has traditionally provided to the community,” Mr Tori said.
Mayor Sophie Ramsey said the community deserved to be happy, healthy and well resourced, and there was more to come.
“If I really didn’t care about the financial welfare of our community, you could put in all the big-ticket items and keep rolling them out, but you would have rate rises that were unsustainable.” She said eight key projects would start next month, including the Western BACE (business centre)
All councillors voted for the draft budget except Cr Lara Carli, who supports the state government’s proposed rate cap at CPI. The draft budget is open for public submissions until May 22. Send submissions to submissions@melton.vic.gov.au or PO Box 21, Melton 3337.
