By CASEY NEILL
BOOMING property values will cause double-digit rate rises in some Greater Dandenong suburbs – but other property owners will see a drop in their rates bill.
The State Government-imposed 2.5 per cent average rate rise comes into play for the council’s 2016-’17 draft budget which was released for public comment on Monday 9 May.
The council’s acting CEO Mick Jaensch said Dandenong and Dandenong North properties looked set to experience lower rates as property values there generally increased by less than the 24 per cent average.
“Suburbs such as Springvale, Springvale South, Noble Park and Keysborough all had above-average increases in their valuations,” he said.
“Some could have double digit increases easily.”
The average increase across the municipality will be $34.90 a year, or 66 cents per week.
Mr Jaensch said that without a cap in place, the rate rise would have been 5.5 per cent and generated another $3 million for capital works.
“We’ve got some major projects that we’re currently working on at present,” he said.
“There’s no one single thing that has necessarily missed out.
“All the directorates have had to tighten their belts.”
The budget included $8.65 million for the Springvale Civic Precinct, including the Springvale Town Hall redevelopment.
“That’s going to receive a really major facelift which will be really noticeable for the users of the hall,” Mr Jaensch said.
Works are due to start in October and finish before June next year.
The council allocated $3.3 million towards a new pavilion, car park and access road at Keysborough’s Tatterson Park, plus $3.26 million for the project from the Federal and State governments.
“Next year’s budget there’ll be another allocation for another $3-odd million,” he said.
“Those two ovals are MCG-sized football ovals.
“They’re really, really well-used yet we don’t have a pavilion to go with it.
“I think it will be a real jewel.”
Mr Jaensch said the budget also included $1.57 million for the Robert Booth Reserve pavilion upgrade and $1.44 million for Alex Nelson Reserve Pavilion redevelopment, with the State Government chipping in $100,000 towards each.
“We’ve been a council that progressively over the last four or five years that have continued to upgrade at least one pavilion a year,” he said.
A $400,000 allocation to Local Area Traffic Management will tackle issues in Dandenong North’s Devira Street, Besley Street in Dandenong, Titcher Road in Noble Park North, and Springvale’s Regent Avenue.
Councillors at the 9 May meeting added to the budget a $35,000 bill for a ‘wombat crossing’ in Menzies Avenue, Dandenong.
Mr Jaensch said the decision came too late to be included in the draft budget on public display and it would be up to councillors to determine where the cash would be taken from.
The recommendation in the agenda was for the council to find money for the project during the 2016-’17 mid-year budget review.
But councillor Matthew Kirwan pushed for it to be brought forward.
“Recent improvements to the hall and the reserve facilities as well as the significant decrease in crime in this area, has meant that this precinct has had families flooding back,” he said.
He said residents asked for a roundabout at Curtin Crescent and Menzies Avenue and speed humps along Menzies Avenue leading up to the precinct.
“These solutions are too expensive given the nature of the problem but the idea of raised platforms at the existing pedestrian crossings is to me a cost effective solution,” he said.
Budget submissions close on Wednesday 8 June.
Councillors will pass the final budget on Monday 27 June.
