By Mitchell Clarke and Jessica Anstice
With 858km of unsealed roads maintained by Cardinia Shire Council, a damning new report indicates it’s not at the top of the to-do list with almost one quarter of ratepayers money spent on swimming and recreation.
According to council’s 2018-19 annual report, for every $100 worth of rates, just $16 is being put towards road maintenance, despite growing community frustration surrounding poor driving conditions.
The report found community satisfaction has been scored 58 out of 100, an improvement from a rating of 54 in 2016-17.
The service cost of sealing roads has declined, with council opting to use cheaper treatments than in previous years with an average of $10 being spent per square metre, down from almost $15 the year prior.
Meanwhile, the report has revealed council pocketed more than $1.6 million above budget due to an increase in housing developments and interest on rates and charges.
Almost $700,000 of that figure came from property rates while ratepayers forked out an extra $310,000 thanks to the recycling crisis, with council acknowledging there is an ongoing challenge to ensure the viability of recycling services.
Fines and fees collected $800,000 more than expected, with the likely causes being traffic enforcement revenue and building and development fees.
Materials and services expenditure went over budget by over half a billion dollars, with the tragedy of the Bunyip bushfires totally an unforeseen cost of $2.45 million in recovery efforts.
It’s also been discovered a whopping $1.67 million was splurged over budget on employee costs due to the impact of new positions, bringing the total number of council workers to 524, with 34 people making up the office of the CEO.
Ratepayers were also forced to spend roughly $50,000 to cover the travel costs of nine councillors.
The full annual report can be viewed on council’s website.
