Rates debacle

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong Council is heading towards State Government administration after a decision-making debacle delayed the city’s budget this week.
The mayor Peter Brown sent the warning after councillors rejected two budgets in one night, leaving the city without a budget as it entered the new financial year.
Cr Brown said a majority of councillors had agreed behind closed doors to accept a revised draft budget last Monday.
Councillors had delayed the draft budget by two weeks to allow interim chief executive Bryan Payne time to help them slash costs.
But the council rejected the revised budget at Monday night’s meeting in a narrow five-six vote, leaving Cr Brown and Mr Payne visibly shattered.
Councillors opposed to the revised budget then recommended a previous draft with higher rates figures drawn up under former chief executive Carl Wulff.
But that motion was lost, this time seven votes to four.
Councillors adjourned the meeting temporarily when Cr Brown accused them of “Dutch auctioning” by throwing rate-rise figures around the chamber in an attempt to reach a resolution.
The councillors backflipped after meeting senior officers and agreed to vote again on the revised budget they rejected moments earlier.
That vote will take place at this Monday’s ordinary meeting.
But Cr Brown told Star he was no longer confident councillors would adopt the budget next week.
“How can you be confident after what happened tonight?” he said after Monday’s meeting.
He warned that the State Government was likely to intervene if councillors again rejected the budget.
“If councillors can’t at this stage formulate a clear budget, even though we have until August to do so, then in effect they are asking the State Government to appoint an administrator.”
Councillors Yvonne Herring and Roz Blades led a charge against the Payne-era budget that saved residents an average of $3.75 per year compared to a previous draft budget but slashed $746,000 from projected revenue.
Cr Herring said the original draft would pump more revenue into public services and would benefit residents more.
He said the revised budget increased council’s borrowings by $2.5 million, which would attract interest and make it more expensive for residents in the long term.
Cr Blades was opposed to both the revised and original draft budgets.
She said Greater Dandenong residents were on average the poorest in Melbourne and needed a lower rates bill than either budget offered.
Budget delays began after Mr Payne made a public submission criticising the budget before he was appointed mid-June.
He said he was disappointed a decision was not made on Monday night, but said it had been beyond his control.