By Cameron Lucadou-Wells
GREATER Dandenong Council is considering asset sales as ‘‘one of the options available’’ to help pay for the council’s new complex in central Dandenong.
The council denied there had been any formal decision on a sale after councillor Peter Brown told the Weekly that slabs of public land in Dandenong’s CBD were ‘‘surplus to requirements’’ and would be sold. These include:
¦ The council offices, Clow Street.
¦ Dandenong library, Stuart Street.
¦ Outdoor car park behind Myer, Clow Street.
¦ The council-owned building occupied by a bank and a butcher, corner of Lonsdale and Clow streets.
Cr Brown said there was no plan to sell off the leafy Pioneer Memorial Gardens, which adjoin the offices, nor the space around the Pillars of Freedom war memorial.
However mayor Youhorn Chea said asset sales was ‘‘one of the options available’’ to the council but no formal decision had been made.
‘‘Prior to making formal decisions, [the] council considers various factors including community and operational needs, opportunities for community benefit and the state of the market. Community involvement in relation to these matters will occur in the future.’’
The new council municipal building complex is costed at $62 million.
Cr Brown’s claims contradicted statements by council executive members at a media briefing in March.
In the briefing, executive members said the offices would be kept for a ‘‘community use’’, along with the Springvale Road offices and library.
Cr Brown said he expected the sales would start after council officials moved out of Clow Street to the municipal building complex, which is due to be built by mid-2014.
‘‘It’s a big slab of land and we won’t get rid of it all straightaway. It would be a staged process.’’
The council will be taking significant loans to fund the complex — on the corners of Lonsdale and Walker streets — that will include a library, civic centre and a Federation Square-style outdoor space.
This year’s draft budget is believed to allocate about $38 million towards the complex’s construction, $33.1 million of which will be loaned to the council.
Cr Brown’s claims come amid wrangling between councillors over the extent of the rates rise set in the 2012-13 council budget.
Cr Brown is arguing for the council to reduce a mooted 5.5 per cent rate rise to 4.5 per cent.
The budget is to be announced later this month.
Cr Brown claimed the sales were part of the council’s long-term strategy to reduce its debt from the new building project.
He said the council would not have a say in the future of the sites once sold because it would have to divest planning control to the state-run authority, Places Victoria.
‘‘We couldn’t sell the land and want to be the planning authority of the sites.’’
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