SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
(Shawn Smits)
All smiles at season’s end The Bombers are the 2015 Riddell District Football Netball League A-grade netball premiers. Riddell has been the best team all season and proved too strong for Macedon in Sunday’s grand final, winning 51-34 at Romsey Park. For all the action across the three football and four netball grand finals, turn to Star Weekly’s sports pages.
Drop Sunbury split: report Supporters of a stand-alone Sunbury council have cried foul after transition auditors recommended the town’s planned split from Hume be abandoned. Those opposed to separation, however, have urged people to move on, calling for an end to the uncertainty they say has hung over Sunbury and Hume for too long. As reported by Star Weekly online, the auditors’ report, presented to Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins on August 28 and released to the public last Thursday, said there were too many concerns about the proposed new council’s viability. ‘‘It is the view of the transition auditors that the separation of Sunbury from the municipality of Hume at this time is so problematic that it
should not proceed,’’ the report by auditors Frank Vincent and John Watson found. The two auditors were appointed by the government in March with a brief to review the separation processes, after the former Liberal government gazetted formal notices that a new Sunbury council would start on July 1 this year. The split was put on hold after Ms Hutchins said too many questions remained unanswered. The auditors said they believed previous financial advice prepared by three consultants affirmed that a Sunbury council was unlikely to be sustainable without significant financial assistance, high rates and/or reduced services. Their report stated any savings that could be achieved through innovations may not provide the secure revenue base needed. It also stated a proposed cross-subsidy from Hume council to Sunbury would constitute a substantial
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shift from the well-established principle that councils operate on the rate base generated within their boundaries. The auditors said abandoning the planned split would protect Sunbury ratepayers and ensure planned capital works, including a new global learning centre, would be delivered. ‘‘If they occur, projected population increases would place Sunbury in a better position at some time in the future to support a council from its own rate base,’’ the report noted. Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn said the recommendations were ‘‘no surprise’’, and he urged split supporters not to drop their bundle. Both Mr Finn and Sunbury Residents Association president Bernie O’Farrell accused the government of having made its decision before launching the year-long review.
Mr O’Farrell said split supporters would keep fighting for an independent Sunbury, regardless of Ms Hutchins’ eventual decision, ‘‘even if it takes the election of a new government’’. Sunbury-based Hume councillor Ann Potter says she hopes people will move on. ‘‘We’ve been governing with uncertainty for too long. We want to get on with things, like planning the new global learning centre. There’ve been enough delays.’’ Hume chief executive Domenic Isola said the council held serious concerns about the process undertaken by the previous government, and he welcomed the auditors’ findings. Both Mr Isola and mayor Adem Atmaca urged this government to make its final decision quickly. Ms Hutchins said she would carefully consider the auditors’ recommendations. For more reactions, visit www.starweekly.com.au
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