Letters to the editor

February 26 2016 - 4:30pm
Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor

Parking levy for traders?

Cr Brian Kelson has been urging the council to provide free parking in Warrnambool’s central business district on the premise that it will boost business for traders in that area. But what Cr Kelson is really asking is for all ratepayers to subside the cost of providing parking in the CBD whether they park there or not. The thousands of visitors to our city don’t pay rates but underwrite the cost of carparks by paying a fee for use. Under Cr Kelson’s proposal, they won’t contribute a cent towards the cost of providing adequate parking. These parking facilities are not there for the convenience of the traders of the CBD but for those who come to the CBD (not all of whom are ratepayers) and for which they pay a fee whenever they use this facility. This Cr Kelson proposal would see the ratepayers subsidising these traders for no obvious benefit. If this is truly a problem for traders in the CBD, perhaps a fairer solution would involve the beneficiaries of this ratepayer provided facility subsidising it themselves through a levy added to their rates bill.

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