By Casey Neill
Greater Dandenong Council has “lost its way”, according to Councillor Tim Dark.
The Liberal Party-aligned Cr Dark was elected to the majority-Australian Labor Party council one year ago.
He spoke out about “funding programs that we don’t need to fund” after abstaining from debate on flying the Torres Strait Islander flag at the Dandenong Civic Centre.
“We fund too many programs within the community service sector,” he said.
“If they have no staunch economic benefit, we should reconsider the funding.”
Cr Dark pointed to subscription fees as the first spending that needed review and said he’d be contesting the cash allocation in the next budget process.
He said the $308,400 bill in this area included an $82,000 membership for the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV).
“We need to cut down on the crap that we’re spending money on,” he said.
“We seem to be spending with no control.
“There’s critical community groups within the City of Greater Dandenong that if we gave them $80,000 – the Springvale Benevolent Society for example – it would do a lot more work than being part of a lobby group that’s a toothless tiger.
“In this era of ratecapping we need to be fiscally responsible,” he said.
