One is beautiful to the eye, while the other is just an eyesore.

One can be bought for sometimes thousands of dollars, while the other costs thousands of dollars to remove.

This financial year alone, the City of Ballarat has budgeted $65,000 to clean up graffiti. That’s $65,000 that could otherwise be spent on road repairs, or helping to maintain public infrastructure, or spent on much-needed programs for the city’s youth.

Instead, this money will be spent cleaning up after mindless vandals who get a kick out of leaving their ugly marks all over Ballarat. And nothing is sacred when it comes to graffiti ... from businesses, fences and churches, to private residences, street signs and railway infrastructure.

This is a blight on our fair city and one that needs a combined and concerted effort from many corners of the community. That is why a call from former Ballarat chief inspector of police Bob Barby for an improved collaborative approach to stamp out the problem is something that really needs a closer look.

Mr Barby describes the graffiti problem in Ballarat as an embarrassment to the community. “As a tourist town, (graffiti) is embarrassing for Ballarat,” he said.

“This problem is growing, particularly around the main entrances to the city and the CBD in Ballarat and it needs intervention. It needs to be raised as a community problem. Graffiti says a lot about the character of a town, its problems and its slackness about not doing anything.”

While the City of Ballarat is already working in partnership with Victoria Police and the Department of Justice Community Correctional Services to combat graffiti, it seems this message is still not getting through.

Education at the school level, increasing penalties for offenders and instilling respect into people are just some of the answers. Making offenders clean up their own mess would also give them a greater appreciation of what property owners must go through to clean up graffiti on sometimes a weekly basis.

And the finger of shame cannot be solely pointed at the young. Some of the offenders are people aged in their 20s and 30s, definitely old enough to know better.