Ballarat councillors have shared concerns about the city’s grant funding process and the need for events to be self-sustaining, after a number of tourism events received council cash.
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The Ballarat Beer Festival received $11,250 at an ordinary council meeting on Wednesday night, having received what councillors believed was a funding grant every year since its inception.
Councillor Des Hudson, who voted against the motion, said while the event added vibrancy to the city in a quiet period, they needed to stress “council is not a cash cow for every event”.
“I don’t see it as the role of ratepayers to fund something where there is not a return back to council,” he said.
While noting that council had worked to explain the need for community events to be self-sustaining after receiving a grant, Cr Hudson said for tourism grants, they hadn’t been “able to build sustainability into the model”.
Cr Ben Taylor, voting in favour of the $11,250 grant, said the city needs to look at event grants and make it clear profit-spinners “can’t rely on council” every year.
But the night provided a small win for those who prefer trotters over tipples.
Cr Grant Tillett moved an alternate motion to provide the Ballarat and District Trotting Club with a $10,000 tourism event grant, compared to the original $5,000 recommended by council officers. He said the Inter Dominion was an international event that is “equivalent to the Ballarat Cup”.
“We gave $20,000 to the Ballarat Turf Club for a strategic partnership, to approve anything less than 50 per cent of that would be an insult, rather than doing anyone a favour,” Cr Tillett said.
While the grant passed, Crs Mark Harris, Daniel Moloney and Belinda Coates voted against the extra cash.
Cr Moloney said he had concerns that council was “randomly picking” a new grant amount, and though he felt it was a potentially “insulting amount compared to others in the industry”, officers had crafted the recommendation based on metrics like if it would return to Ballarat again.
When it comes to the Organs of the Goldfields, director of development and planning Angelique Lush told the chamber the city “couldn’t in good conscience” recommend a tourism grant until the event was more self-sustaining, but would give the committee $15,000 this year and work with them in the future.
The motion was carried unanimously, with Cr Tillett noting if council did not provide monetary support for the event this year, “every music lover would descend on us with cricket bats and pitchforks”.
Councillors Amy Johnson and Jim Rinaldi were apologies for the meeting.