Goya Dmytryshchak
Hobsons Bay council has deferred its annual draft budget amid an outcry over a proposed 2 per cent rates rise as households battle coronavirus hardship.
Cr Tony Briffa, who did not attend last week’s budget meeting because of health risks associated with COVID-19, took to social media to express outrage at plans to increase rates when “unemployment is around 10 percent and the country is about to experience the greatest recession in generations”.
The council agenda, released before the meeting, stated: “Rapid and unprecedented changes resulting from the coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic have been seen around the world. Council proposes to increase its general rates by 2 per cent, in accordance with the Victorian Government rate cap legislation.”
The 2020-21 budget is premised on an operational surplus of $26.454 million.
Cr Briffa said the council had time to revise the “disturbing and irresponsible” budget.
“I do not accept that there has not been sufficient time to review the proposed budget,” Cr Briffa said.
“The Federal government has had sufficient time to close our borders … and to introduce many measures including the $130 billion JobKeeper program.”
At the meeting, attended by Mayor Colleen Gates and councillors Peter Hemphill, Sandra Wilson and Jonathon Marsden, an alternative motion to defer and revise the draft budget by August 31 was approved unanimously.
Cr Hemphill moved that council, “due to current uncertainty attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak, delays the exhibition of any draft budget for 2020-21 and use the additional time provided by the Victorian government to analyse and further revise the draft budget.”
Cr Sandra Wilson said had council known the government would grant an extension of time “before our agenda had gone to print, I think that we would have had a very different recommendation before us.”
Cr Jonathon Marsden said “We know that … a number of households are experiencing hardship … any revised budget or revised hardship policy ought to take that in to account.”
