There were several testy exchanges in the council chamber on Wednesday night following a last-minute motion by Councillor Amy Johnson to abandon rate increases.
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Several councillors criticised her "eleventh hour" intervention as Cr Johnson suggested savings by abandoning plans to restore the town hall's ball room, spreading library renovations across two years and $635,000 in cuts across business units.
Rate increases in the draft budget were set at 2.5 per cent, the maximum under a State-government cap.
Several councillors criticised Cr Johnson with Councillor Belinda Coates saying her motion was an example of "very poor governance", while councillor Grant Tillett likened her approach to "an ambush". Her one ally was councillor Ben Taylor, who seconded her motion.
The most impassioned speech against it was made by councillor Des Hudson. He commended Cr Johnson for her consistency in standing against rate rises for the past seven years, then accused her of engineering a "nice easy grandstanding opportunity" for a "feel good motion that is just trying to be popular".
He said he objected to the late raising of the motion. "We could have had a discussion," he said. "We could have had some input. We could have all been involved, rather than seeing it this afternoon on social media."
"None of us enjoys paying rates but pay them we do," continued Cr Hudson. "I represent some of the more marginal communities and I am acutely aware of the effect of rate rises." However he said that freezing rate increases this year would inevitably mean services cuts further down the line.
Glenn Kallio, the City of Ballarat Council's chief financial officer, said the compound effect of freezing rates this year could mean a reduction of almost $30 million over the next decade. He said significant services could be cut as a result.
Councillor Daniel Moloney asked Cr Johnson and City of Ballarat CEO Justine Linley on the services they would target. "Which areas are on the chopping block if we go ahead?" he asked.
Cr Johnson denied that she was grandstanding and said her motivation was "to limit the financial burden on the ratepayers". She suggested the best place to have budget debates was out in open council rather then "behind closed doors."
As the discussion went on for around 90 minutes, at least three councillors apologised to around 40 people waiting in the public gallery for the only other item on the agenda: submissions on amendments to Ballarat Clarendon College's planning application.
Cr Johnson's motion was rejected and the original draft budget was finally adopted by council, with only Crs Johnson and Taylor voting against.
Headline figures include $15m over three years to regenerate Bridge Mall, $2 million for the second stage of Civic Hall works, and $3.5 million over four years for the installation of energy efficient LED street lighting.
Employee wages are a projected $67.5 million over the next year, with the next largest expense being materials and services with $67.1 million set aside.
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