Mornington
Morni ngton
12 April 2016
Your guide to what’s on this weekend for peninsula families
High achiever > Page 3
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Outdoors for holiday fun FRASER Torrington, of St Macartan’s Primary School and Kobi Newnham, of Benton Junior College, enjoyed the fun of Nature Play Week at Camp Manyung over the school holidays. The activities lured children away from their TVs, computers and smartphones. It is reported that only one-in-10 children play outside. “We see ourselves as an outdoor nation, yet our kids spend most of their childhood indoors,� YMCA Camp Manyung manager Maree Feutrill said. Ms Feutrill said playing outside can reduce anxiety, improve mood and concentration for children and can make them happier. “We know kids do better outside,� she said. “With so many communities and organisations getting involved in Nature Play Week, the movement also aims to foster local networks that can give kids and families ongoing opportunities to connect with each other and continue to explore their special local places. “Nature play doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming, yet the benefits kids get from playing outside are enormous.� Picture: Yanni
Rate changes a ‘fairer’ system – mayor MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has dropped the municipal charge in favour of a waste service charge which it says will ensure a “fairer redistribution of the rate burden�. The mayor Cr Graham Pittock said the $193 a property waste charge would raise $19 million, an amount that “fully recovers the cost of collection and disposal of refuse�. The municipal charge for 2014/15 was $180. The proposed budget released for
public comment last week includes raising an extra $5.269m from rates, for a total of $155.344m. The proposed general rate is .22670 cents in the dollar of a property’s capital improved value (CIV). This is a 1.8 per cent increase over last year. The rate for vacant commercial and industrial land is to rise by 18.7 per cent to .31738 cents in the dollar of CIV. The shire’s total 2016/17 income is put at just over $214m.
The budget also shows shire staffing costs will rise by $3.067m to $70.094m – about 30 per cent of total expenditure. Cr Pittock said the budget would have a $38.1m operating surplus, “more than $2.5 million over the amount from the previous year, which will go towards delivering more capital works and reducing accumulated debt�. The budget papers show spending on capital works will drop by $14.166m to $32.659m.
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moveâ€? to be carbon neutral within five years. Cr Pittock listed budget “highlightsâ€? as being: ď Ž Ongoing delivery of services. ď Ž Capital works of $32.7m, includes more than $10m on roads; $3.5m on footpaths and “cyclewaysâ€?; $3.6m on drainage; and $3.4m on parks, open spaces and streetscapes. ď Ž Paying down the shire's debt in record time and at record levels. Continued Page 7
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"This is an extremely positive result in light of the challenging economic environment, including the new Fair Go Rates System's 2.5 per cent rate capping limit; enterprise bargaining agreement increases of 3.3 per cent and significant increases in key longterm outsourcing service contracts not tied to the consumer price index," Cr Pittock said. He said the “positive result� added to the shire's Clean Up and Green Up initiatives as well as its “unwavering
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