BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au Bendigo’s most-read newspaper
ISSUE 795 FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2013
Music in the Parks Rowan Blackmore kicks off Music in the Parks tonight with a French style taking you from Rosalind Park to the boulevards of Paris in summer. He’s followed by Melbournebased gypsy-style band The Woohoo Revue who will heat up the already warm evening.
IN TUNE: Musician Rowan Blackmore is keyed up to kick off Music in the Parks tonight. Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
B.ENTERTAINED Page
CASH CHOKE BY ANTHONY RADFORD
MORE major projects could be delayed this year because of Greater Bendigo’s superannuation debt. Council was forced to cut projects to find $10.3 million last year to fund the shortfall in one of its superannuation schemes, the Local Authorities Defined Benefits scheme. “The super issue will cast a shadow over everything we do this year,” mayor Lisa Ruffell said.
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Super fund impacts on spending
“Super has to be our number one issue.” The scheme provides those who joined councils between 1947 and 1993 with a fixed return on retirement, no matter how bad the investments are. Any shortfall between what is owed and what the investments
return is paid by the council they were employed with. Council wanted help from the state and federal governments to change the laws so the fund didn’t have to be fully funded, to ease the financial pressure. Being fully funded means there must be enough money available in
Minister blames union for delay - Page 3
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case every employee retires at the same time, an unlikely event. Councillors and senior council staff will meet in late January and early February to outline their spending and project plans for the 2012-14 financial year. However, Cr Ruffell said council’s plans will “have to be” stifled
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by the super crisis. “We have had no response from the State Government, which I am not very happy with,” she said. “We wrote to them in early December, and they haven’t even acknowledged our letter. “The super issue is a big one for local government, but no one is doing anything about it.”
Continued Page 2 EDITORIAL Page 13
Abortion clinic row grows - Page 5
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