City seeks $13m Leisurelink loan

Andrew Mathieson
City Hall is seeking a loan of nearly $13 million to pay for Geelong’s Leisurelink project.
But councillor Andrew Katos, who holds council’s finance portfolio, said the timing of the call for tenders to provide the loan meant ratepayers could save “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.
Cr Katos said council would save the money on the $12.675 million loan after a steady fall in interest rates over the past year.
Cr Katos said he was aware of public perceptions about City Hall wasting revenue while home owners struggled to pay rates but council was “getting the best result for the community” with the Leisurelink loan.
“We held off a bit on the loan because the market has fallen,” Cr Katos said.
“It’s proven a bit advantageous in the end and we have ended up saving a fair bit of interest.”
Cr Katos was unable to announce the final savings until after financiers submit their tender on the Waurn Ponds indoor swimming and recreation facility.
But was confident the final savings on the loan for the million-dollar figure over a 10-year period would still be “quite substantial”.
“I would have assumed it will be in the order of two or three per cent in savings than what it would have been before,” Cr Katos said.
Cr Katos said the City had always relied on a bidding process to borrow money for its big infrastructure projects.
The Waurn Ponds Leisure-link project was on track for completion in March after earlier delays, he said.
“Regardless of the status of how far the project is on time, the funds weren’t needed until this financial year coming up,” Cr Katos said.
Mayor John Mitchell said in April that the company behind redevelopment of adjacent Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre would also contribute to the total $37 million bill for the Leisurelink “community hub”.