Concerns have been raised about how a levy paid by farmers at the Warrnambool saleyards was being used and if it was going into the city council's consolidated revenue.
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Farmer and ratepayer Christine Thompson's submission to the council's proposed 2020/21 budget says that since 2010 the council would have collected $1.45 million from a $2 levy on farmers' sales which was introduced in the wake of a push to close the saleyards a decade ago.
Year-old figures in the submission show the council's capital expenditure at the saleyards over that time exceeded the revenue raised from the levy with expenses projected by the council to be almost $1.64 million when a $600,000 allocation for the new roof was included.
But Mrs Thompson said those figures included normal repairs and maintenance as well as capital improvements, but the original intention of the levy was for that money to be spent on capital improvements.
"The normal fees paid for by agents and farmers should well and truly cover these repairs and maintenance expenses, after all the Warrnambool saleyards has always made a yearly profit," she said.
"The levy imposed should be spent on the purpose for which it was collected and not used as consolidated revenue as has been stated to us in the past."
A letter from the council's director of corporate strategies Peter Utri, which was also included in the submission, said the figures related to items for asset renewal as well as for upgrades and improvements.
"We do not differentiate these aspects in the stewardship of the asset," it says.
The letter also says that on average the annual investment by the council in the saleyards was $165,000 over a five-year period.
Mrs Thompson also raised her concerns about the new roof costing hundreds of thousands more than the original estimate.
The council recently secured a $430,000 from the state government for the $969,581 project, saving it from having to take out a loan to cover the cost.
The new green roof for the saleyards, which will provide cover for the animals in the dirt pens, has been a decade in the making and work is expected to start in September if weather permits.
Mrs Thompson's submission was one of eight presented to city councillors on Monday as part of the draft budget review process.
It was not the practice of the council to comment or debate the content of the submissions.
Information in the submissions are included as part of a report that go to the council for debate at its July meeting.
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