No cap on ‘hypocrisy’ Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
Read all about it: Frankston mayor Sandra Mayer, seated, reads a story to children at Carrum Downs Library keen to tackle The Mayor’s Reading Challenge throughout August. Picture: Gary Sissons
Turn the page for challenge AUGUST is the month for families to take up The Mayor’s Reading Challenge in Frankston. The challenge, for children aged 0-5 years, encourages parents and carers to read regularly with their children to help instil a love of language. “Reading to your child from the day they are born can give them a great start to life and learning,� Mayor Cr Sandra Mayer said. “Residents are invited to join the challenge, share stories and win great prizes. The more you read, the more rewards and chances to win. You can share a book, sing songs or rhymes, read signs or
even the newspaper.� Entrants should register their children with Frankston libraries to receive a reading kit including a reading activity record to track progress. Stickers, pencil cases and other prizes will be available at Frankston libraries throughout August. Participants who hand in their completed reading records will be eligible for a major prize draw on Monday 31 August with winners notified by telephone. See library.frankston.vic.gov.au or call Frankston Library on 9784 1020 for further details.
FRANKSTON councillors have accused the Andrews government of “hypocrisy� over its plan to cap rate rises at the rate of inflation from 2016-17 onwards. Councillors note charges such as the landfill levy, fire rates levy and a new metropolitan planning levy collected by council on the state government’s behalf will not be capped amid anger that most of the money in levies Frankston Council collects is not returned to the municipality. At last month’s public council meeting councillors noted the landfill levy funds are supposed to be reinvested into “resource recovery� operations but the Labor state government had not contributed any funding towards a new $12.3 million waste transfer station due to open at Skye’s Harold Rd in October. Cr Colin Hampton said it is “disgraceful� that about $7 million has been collected from Frankston ratepayers for state coffers since 2008 but little of the money had been reinvested in Frankston. “The landfill levy has been taken from this council since 1996. It started off as $2.50 per tonne and now it’s $52 a tonne. That’s why our residents when they go to a landfill anywhere have to pay such an exorbitant amount of money to dump a trailer now.� Cr Darrel Taylor slammed the new metropolitan planning levy, applicable from 1 July on all planning applications over $1 million, as being another money spinner for the state government. He called on the Labor government to return the revenue to councils to help with the rising costs of assessing planning applications at a local level.
“It’s absolute hypocrisy. They’re going to rake in millions out of this ... it’s a con, we’ve been absolutely conned. This is the last straw. It’s an absolute joke,� Cr Taylor said. The metropolitan planning levy was introduced by the former Coalition state government led by then premier Denis Napthine. Labor state government spokesman Kosta Pandos said the state planning department is finalising consultations on how to allocate the levy funds. “Planning and subdivision fees will be adjusted once the planning department has finalised consultation on a regulatory impact statement and worked through the consultation findings with the minister,� he said. Environment Minister Lisa Neville said the Labor government recently released a Statewide and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan outlining seven regional waste and recovery plans for all regions of Victoria. “We are committed to considering more efficient ways to use the revenue on waste going to landfill,� Ms Neville said. “The landfill levy is also used to fund core business activities of the EPA, Sustainability Victoria and the seven Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Groups.� Frankston councillors’ criticism of the state government’s “hypocrisy� in not capping levies pre-empted the release of a draft report on a framework for council rate capping by the Essential Services Commissions released late last Friday (31 July). The draft report recommended “revenue from special rates and charges, ‘revenue in lieu of rates’ and the fire services levy should not be included in the rate cap�. The fire services levy rose by 7.2 per cent for the 2015-16 financial year.
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Frankston Times 3 August 2015
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