Wyndham council has received more than 150 reports of vandalised trees in public areas since 2015.
Tree vandalism can include trees being stolen, chopped down or poisoned, without council’s permission.
The council’s city operations director Stephen Thorpe said that during the 2016 financial year the council received 69 reports about tree vandalism, up from 53 notifications in the 2015 financial year.
Mr Thorpe said that since the 2017-18 financial year began, the council had received 29 reports related to tree vandalism.
He said the council also spent between $80,000 and $100,000 to repair vandalised park furniture and playground equipment each year.
“Some significant events can cost a lot more than this – an example is the arson of the pirate ship playground at Bayview Park which cost over $450,000 to rectify,” Mr Thorpe said.
He said the council “condemns the vandalism of any trees or play equipment across our city”.
“Vandalism and graffiti impact the community financially, result in an inability to use public places until damage is repaired, cause some people to feel unsafe and the money spent dealing with these issues means it is not available to provide furniture and equipment in other areas,” Mr Thorpe said.
“The challenge in successful prosecution is linking the vandals to the vandalism, as a result we ask that anybody who witnesses vandalism on private or public property is encouraged to contact Victoria Police on triple-0.”
Committing vandalism, including graffiti, can result in up to two years prison and a maximum fine of $37,319.
Wyndham’s Acting Inspector Peter Bitton said police investigated reports of fire damage at parks in the area “from time to time”, while graffiti was also an issue in some public places and transport hubs.
“We work closely with Transit Police from Werribee and our Youth Tasking Unit to address the issue by charging offenders when identified and seeking compensation through the courts,” Acting Inspector Bitton said.
