Melton mayor Sophie Ramsey has defended spending $18,500 on a high tea to celebrate International Women’s Day, saying she “couldn’t care” about social media comments blasting the cost of the event as “exorbitant”.
The council came under fire last month after it was revealed about $20,000 of ratepayers’ money had been allocated for the two-hour, invite-only event. At the time, Cr Lara Carli requested officers prepare a report outlining all costs.
It can be revealed Melton council spent $10,311 on food and beverages, $4026 on venue “dressing”, $1125 on entertainment, $823 on printing and designing invitations and thank-you cards, and $615 on thank-you gifts. These prices don’t include GST.
Melton council legal and governance manager Christine Denyer reported to last week’s council meeting that, of the 107 women who attended the March 10 event, 75 were Melton residents or representatives of Melton organisations, 17 were students from local secondary schools, nine were chaperones to those students, and four were council officers.
Ms Denyer reported that council had received positive feedback for the event.
But following a Star Weekly article, social media users accused Cr Ramsey and Melton council of “grand-standing”, while others labelled the costs “absolutely ridiculous”, “a joke”, and a “waste of ratepayers money”.
“These ladies don’t seek reward nor acknowledgement for their service … they do this for the community of Melton,” Cr Ramsey said.
“But sometimes it’s nice for us as leaders in our community to say thank-you, we value you, we respect what you do and, in a subtle way, we see how much you contribute. The contributions by these women, and many more [who] could’ve been invited, save the community hundreds and thousands of dollars yearly.”
Cr Ramsey said all councillors had given their support to the high tea, but three weeks before the March 10 event, after the invitations had been sent out, four of the councillors retracted their support.
In response to comments of disapproval, Cr Ramsey said: “I will stand right behind it. Personally … I couldn’t care what social media says.”
Cr Majdlik alleged Cr Ramsey had initially said the event would cost between $5000 and $8000. Cr Ramsey disputed this, saying she had made it clear it could cost up to $15,000.
