Debt and rates to jump for precinct

Jane Emerick
Surf Coast Shire will borrow $11 million and raise rates to fund new offices and a community precinct.
The shire’s strategic resource plan reveals the shire plans to borrow the money between 2009 and 2011.
A shire spokesperson yesterday said one per cent of a proposed 7.9 per cent rates increase would also go toward the project.
The project, set for 20 hectares of farmland at the Geelong Road entry to Torquay, would include new shire offices, sport facilities, a library and a visitor information centre.
Shire chief executive officer Peter Bollen said the project would cost “just over” $18 million.
Subdivision developers would help make up the difference through cash exchanges for open space contributions.
“This (the project) will result in increased debt but it will be within government guidelines and shire financial indicators,” Mr Bollen said.
Torquay Residents and Ratepayers Association’s Lyn Smith said the increase in debt and rates suggested financial incompetence.
“They justify it by saying people can afford to pay (higher rates). Well, some can’t,” she said.
Financial troubles at the shire including a $12 million debt led to a 2002 Commission of Inquiry report, which blamed a “divided” council and senior management between 1998 and 2001.