Vol. No. Vol. 2318No. 51 27
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STEAMPUNK SPECTACLE: Creatives in Dimboola are putting a magnifying glass on the socio-economic potential of running a major alternative art festival in the town later this year. People will have a chance to dress up in pseudoVictorian era costumes for The Wimmera’s First Steampunk Street Party on September 4. The town’s main street will be transformed into a science-fiction wonderland, with steampunk costumes, music, art and culture as primary themes of the event. Festival organiser Chan Uoy, who owns Dimboola Imaginarium, has been taking notes from international and other Australian steampunk festivals as a source of inspiration. Mr Uoy believes the Wimmera needs to ‘strike while the iron is hot’ and tap into regional tourism opportunities created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured, from left, Wimmera costume designers Helena Croser and Hilary Willowsmith, with festival organiser Chan Uoy. Story, page 15. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Council about-face A
BY DEAN LAWSON
recasting of votes has led to Horsham Rural City Council adopting its 2021-22 budget and 2021-2024 revenue and rating plan.
The council at a meeting on Monday night only agreed to push forward with the plans after considerable and passionate debate and after confronted with State Government intervention. Despite draft plans having gone through a process of consultation and review and a statutory requirement the council adopt the council budget by June 30, the council initially voted against their adoption. A subsequent call for division prompted mayor Robyn Gulline to
suspend standing orders to allow councillors to assess circumstances and understand implications of the decision. Crs Di Bell, Les Power, Claudia Haenel and Ian Ross, after speaking strongly about a broad range of issues, voted against passing the budget. But on meeting resumption after the break, Crs Bell and Power changed their vote in favour of the motion. The change in vote prompted an outburst from the gallery, which included a vocal contingent of farming representatives who gathered to protest against the rating balance. Debate, mainly about fairness and equitability in how sectors shared the rates burden while at the same time applauding aspects of the documents,
exposed councillor frustration in dealing with subjective comparisons and processes surrounding the rating system. Crs Ross and Bell in particular recognised the ‘mammoth’ job the council had done to come up with a formula but were unhappy with how the final documents affected the farming community. Both believed the council should have further considered a Victorian Farmers Federation submission, one of 10 community submissions, which offered an alternative in the ratessharing equation, to the rating draft. Cr Ross described the formula assessing rateable farm land as the ‘one stumbling block’ in what was generally ‘positive stuff’.
He said he also believed the variation in how commercial, industrial, residential and urban sectors shared the rates burden ‘deviated from policy’. Cr Bell, when first speaking on the issue said she believed all ratepayers should be treated the same and while happy overall, was unhappy and disappointed with how the figures had worked out for the farming sector. Cr Power said he struggled with the municipal charge and how the rates worked when comparing large and small farming enterprises, calling the farm-rates issue a ‘white elephant’ and adding that he was disappointed in the lack of submissions from other Horsham ratepaying sectors. Cr Penny Flynn started debate by
initially moving a recommendation from corporate services director Graeme Harrison to adopt the budget revenue, rating plans and rating charges as well as other financial adjustments in response to public submissions. Cr Flynn and her seconder Cr David Bowe went through an extensive list of council development and maintenance projects, describing meeting community expectations ‘in the best interests of the whole municipality’ as ‘challenging’. Cr Haenel said she was unsure whether the documents reflected what the community wanted from the council. Continued page 3
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