Warrnambool City councillors voted unanimously in support of a controversial plan to raise rates by 4.5 per cent in front of a packed gallery of vocal objectors on Monday.
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Up to 50 ratepayers attended the council meeting holding signs that said "listen to the ratepayers", "enough is enough", "stop wasting money" and "represent the people", and frequently called out during the meeting to adopt the 2019-20 budget.
Even before the meeting started, one vocal ratepayer yelled out "no rate rise".
Five councillors voted for a motion to adopt the budget which included a rate rise two per cent above the state government-imposed rate cap of 2.5 per cent after it obtained special permission from the Essential Services Commission.
That means the average residential ratepayer would pay an extra $31 a year on top of the capped increase of $38.
Despite having voted against a move to seek the extra rise from the ESC, mayor Tony Herbert on Monday voted in favour of the rates rise.
However, he promised the council would do all it could to avoid raising rates by an extra two per cent next year even though the ESC said it could.
Cr Robert Anderson said the additional rate revenue would be spent on asset renewal such as footpaths and bridges.
Cr Mike Neoh said that while people did not like paying additional taxes, the council had made a decision not to leave assets in worse condition than it had found them.
Councilllors were constantly interrupted by jeers and comments from the gallery with people calling out "don't waste money on roundabouts", "cut out racecourse parties" and council "should be sacked".
Cr Kylie Gaston described the budget as the most controversial she has had to vote on.
But she said the budget and financial situation of the council had been analysed at the highest level by the ESC.
She said the council had always strived for a responsible and balanced budget, and it did not go out of its way to do a bad job, to which one member of the public called out "I can't listen to this" and left.
Cr Gaston said she was disappointed with the comments Cr Peter Hulin made in Monday's The Standard saying it was a "bit rich" to call council lazy while he was in Europe.
She said he had been absent for four of the seven budget meetings she'd voted on since she'd been on council.
Cr Sue Cassidy was also absent from the council meeting on Monday night because she was on leave.
Cr David Owen said the gap in the asset renewal budget would blow out from $16.5 million to $20 million if council didn't do anything about it, to which one audience member called out "take a pay cut".
Cr Owen responded by saying: "you can take mine if you like".
Despite having voted against going to the ESC to seek higher rates, Cr Herbert said he'd struggled with making the decision to pass on the higher rates.
Cr Herbert said he would do all he could to find efficiencies by next year and would seriously consider not raising rates by the full 4.5 per cent in 2020-21.
He said that maybe the council could have done more, but it could learn from the past and avoid making the same mistakes again.
When the five councillors raised their hand to pass the motion to adopt the budget, it was met with calls from the public of "shame, shame on all of you".
Warrnambool Ratepayers Association president Brian Kelson, who said he represented 750 members, described it as a very vocal meeting but it was an emotional topic.
"People out there are struggling to feed young families...we've got people who don't know whether to pay their rates or buy medicine," he said.
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"I just cannot believe this council has no empathy."
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