Cr Richard Foley wants Wagga City Council to stop depending on the State Government for “handouts”. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.
A Wagga City councillor has floated the idea of raising rates to create a community housing trust to establish an ongoing revenue stream and fund big-ticket items such as a water park.
Responding to Region’s tongue-in-cheek call to resurrect Wagga’s ”Water Whizz” waterslide, Councillor Richard Foley weighed in on the comments, saying that the “only way to get a new decent water park is for council to have the financial capacity to provide and maintain it”.
He went on to suggest a plan that would see the council “build 1000 modest dwellings on council-owned land” that would be community-funded via a Special Rate Variation (SRV).
“For example, an SRV at $1000 per annum over seven years would raise $154 million that would be directed exclusively towards building property for rental returns,” Cr Foley said.
“The question arises, however, would the people of Wagga Wagga be willing to part with $20 per week every week for seven years in order to establish a community housing trust that when finished would provide over $20 million back into the community every year for several decades into the future?”
Fellow councillor Tim Koschel was quick to respond with a comment of his own, stating that he had also been advocating for a water park, but said it should not be done by imposing another cost on the community.
“We don’t need an SRV for this, which is charging residents more during a cost-of-living crisis,” he said.
“We need to look within our budget or work with the State and Federal governments to make it happen.”
The team featuring Cr Mick Henderson, Allana Condron and Cr Tim Koschel is leading the count after the Wagga local government election. Photo: Chris Roe.
Cr Koschel’s ticket is leading the early count in this month’s local government elections and Cr Foley also looks set to retain his seat when the results are finalised in early October.
With Wagga Council projecting a growing deficit over the next two financial years, Cr Koschel said a forensic examination of the budget should be the number-one priority.
“When we went through the campaign, we were careful to say that we can’t promise anything because there’s no budget,” he said.
“I said that there would be lots of promises being made that will go unfunded unless people find a funding source, so for Richard to come out now and use the SRV as a funding source to deliver on what he promised during the campaign is a little bit harsh.”
Cr Foley said he made no secret of his plans for a community housing trust and the council could not continue to rely on “government handouts”.
“I’m not afraid to face the music on it in the community or the backlash, because I think we have to have a serious discussion here,” he said.
“I went to the election talking about a housing trust with the purpose of putting an economic base under this city’s future.
“What other plans do they have, other than putting out their hand to government? Government’s not going to give you $60 million for something like a water park.”
Cr Koschel said an SRV of $1000 was “unimaginable” and would put additional pressure on those feeling the pinch during a housing crisis.
“It’s going to add $20 a week to every person that’s renting a home because the owners of those rental properties will pass that additional cost straight on to the tenants,” Cr Koschel warned.
“And of course, that’s also going to add $20 a week extra to anybody that might already be struggling to pay their mortgage.”
Cr Foley said that it could be a case of “short-term pain for long-term gain” and the proposed SRV added up to the value of around “three coffees a week”.
“We’ve got people in urgent need of houses and we’ve got a market that won’t cater for the demand for single or two-bedroom dwellings and I think we can be part of the solution,” he said.
“Council has the land, so we don’t have to buy the land, and if we leverage the ratepayers without a loan, the return at the end of the day will be millions of dollars each year.”
“We can’t just run to government every year and say – can you give us money to fix a little bit of road here, a little bit of road there? It’s useless
“It’s crumbs under the table and I think the sooner we can move away from relying on the state, the better.”
Loading ...
