The City of Ballarat has identified a missing payment of $1 million owed to the state government as part of the deal to create the Ballarat West Employment Zone.
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In council's quarterly performance report, due to go to council at Wednesday night's meeting, officers noted council's forecast operating result included a $1 million payment to the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions in relation to BWEZ and the memorandum of understanding signed in 2015.
To date, council has paid $4 million of the $5 million commitment, with the missing payment originally due in August 2018.
According to the officer report attached to the quarterly report, officers reviewed all transactions to confirm the payment was missing and there was no evidence explaining why it had not been made.
"Officers involved in the project have confirmed there is no reason for this amount not to have been paid," the report says.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"Officers have considered the controls currently in place to ensure valid invoices received in the future are not removed from the financial system."
In a statement to The Courier, City of Ballarat CEO Evan King said both council and the state government were working towards sorting out the final payment.
"Following various delays it has been confirmed that all actions within the Memorandum of Understanding have been completed by all parties. The amount remains due and officers from both parties have been working towards arranging the final payment," he said.
However, council did not address who was in charge of making the payment and whether there were any other outstanding invoices from government departments.
In a statement, Regional Victoria Development said the final payment was still outstanding.
"As detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding signed upon the initial agreement, the City of Ballarat agreed to contribute $5 million in instalments to be paid to Regional Development Victoria (RDV)," the statement said.
"Of this, a final $1 million payment is outstanding and RDV continues to work with the City on all aspects of the project, including the funding."
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