Cade Lucas
Wyndham council has endorsed its budget for 2023-24, despite opposition over the level of debt.
The budget plan passed by nine votes to two at a meeting on Wednesday night, with councillors Josh Gilligan and Heather Marcus refusing to support the plan due to projected borrowings of $225 million over the coming decade.
Earlier, an alternative proposal by Cr Gilligan that would have halved the level of debt by shelving or reducing major projects and introducing an efficiency dividend, was voted down, with only Cr Marcus voting in support.
In passing the budget plan, council locked in rate rises of 3.5 per cent, the largest amount allowed under the state government’s rate cap, with inflation, particularly in the cost of building materials and utilities, being blamed.
The budget allocates $432 million for key services, including $20 million for kindergartens and children’s services, $12 million for child immunisations and $11 million for libraries.
The $167 million capital works budget includes $33 million for road construction and upgrades, $11 million for the implementation of the Tarneit North Master Plan and $10 million for a new community centre in Truganina.
Wyndham Mayor Susan McIntyre said the budget struck the right balance.
“We are all living in a more unpredictable
economic environment, yet this budget ensures there is a focus on spending in the
right areas and in the delivery of assets and projects residents support,” Cr McIntyre said.
“This Budget is both considered and responsible.”
That wasn’t the view of councillor Josh Gilligan, who criticised the increase in council borrowings from their current level of $15 million
to $67.5 million by the end of next financial year and a projected $225 million in a decade.
“We’re embarking on the biggest debt spendathon in Wyndham city council’s history” said Cr Gilligan, who argued spending and borrowing should be reduced amid economic uncertainty.
“It is not a realistic budget, it is not a budget that accounts for the times,” he said.
Speaking in support, Deputy Mayor Jennie Barrera said the borrowing figures represented the maximum amount available, not what would be used.
She said using debt to invest in Wyndham’s future was prudent.
“Borrowing funds infrastructure that a growing community needs and might not otherwise get.
“We are, remember, the fast growing municipality in Australia.”
