By ALECIA PINNER
CASEY council will lose $434,000 in federal government grants this
financial year – the second-highest loss to a council in Victoria – and
Greater Dandenong council will lose $272,538.
The state Minister for Local Government, Jeanette Powell, said the funding cuts would cost Victorian councils $13.4 million.
“These funding cuts will have a significant impact,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Mrs Powell said the amount was being taken from what was promised to the commission in May last year.
But a spokeswoman for federal Local Government Minister Anthony Albanese said the claims were “nonsense”.
She said the Commonwealth had increased funding for the financial
assistance grants program from $502.2 million in 2012-13 to $534.6
million in 2013-14.
“We give a pot to the state government which determines how much
specific councils receive through the State Grants Commission,” the
spokeswoman said.
“We have nothing to do with deciding how much of the money each council gets.
“The states know better than anyone where they have had population increases and where the money is most needed.”
