$12.6m ‘gap’ for sports upgrades

Two sports grounds won funding lifelines in City Hall’s finalised budget this week but a third missed out as administrators expressed concern at a $12.6 million “funding gap” for sport facilities.
The three administrators made budget variations to allow a $35,000 master plan for St Joseph’s Drew Reserve and to “consider” a $430,000 change-room upgrade at Queen’s Park.
But Grovedale Football Club lost its bid for a variation to fund visitors’ and women’s rooms at Burdoo Reserve.
“After inspecting Drew Reserve, we decided we needed to consider this site’s development strategically, to ensure its facilities were improved in a sustainable way while addressing all safety and security issues,” said chairwoman of administrators Dr Kathy Alexander.
“We’ve also decided to further consider allocating $430,000 for a change-room upgrade at Queen’s Park, which the G21 AFL strategy has identified as being some of the worst in our region.
“That funding will depend on further work yet to be done between club representatives and City officers.”
Dr Alexander encouraged promoters of community projects that missed out on funding in 2016/2017 to continue working with the City over the next 12 months.
“As I highlighted at the submissions hearing, we had about $8.5 million available to allocate toward $27 million of proposals,” she said.
“Despite each project’s merits, the City can’t afford to fund every submission, so we had to prioritise.”
Dr Alexander said the administrators were concerned about the $12.6 million gap for asset renewal and maintenance after observing funding issues confronting many of the region’s sport and recreational clubs.
“That renewal gap is predicted to grow to around $25 million annually over the next 20 years, based on our current expenditure and renewal levels.
“As administrators we’re committed to addressing the challenge of funding the gap, so we’ve asked City officers to develop a social infrastructure plan that includes recreation and sporting facility projects.
“A strategic approach to decision-making about community infrastructure and facilities will help ensure we make the best use of available resources.
“It’s crucial that community-owned assets offer safe and cost-effective services to as large a section of the community as possible, including our sporting and recreation clubs.”