City of Perth Council Meeting: 28 February 2023
Council met at 5pm on Tuesday 28 February for our first full council meeting for 2023. As usual the below snapshot is my personal view only. I encourage you to view our live stream and visit the agenda page to access officer reports.
1. Council opens the door for ad hoc planning scheme amendments
While I have provided many progress updates on our new planning strategy and scheme, we have also received many requests for ad hoc scheme amendments to the existing scheme ahead of this process being finalised.
While this protracted planning process carries on in the background, Council can now help facilitate city-changing projects without having to wait for it to be finished. For those in the planning game, you know a new town planning scheme can take 5 years to get through to completion. We simply cannot wait a moment longer to improve our city.
If there's a landowner sitting on prime real estate in the middle of the CBD who doesn't have the ability to fulfil the sites' potential, this policy which is now in force after consultation with industry can be used to create something incredible which benefits the broader Perth economy. There are no more excuses from landlords sitting on neglected streets or in empty buildings, this policy can be utilised now. Don't wait for the new scheme, come to the City with your ideas and let's get going.
You can read the final adopted policy in our agenda (which starts on page 17) by clicking here.
2. Returning the Rod Evans Centre to the East Perth Community
At our first full Council meeting together after the election in late 2020, Council supported a two-year trial of a Safe Night Space for Women (SNS) at the Rod Evans Centre in East Perth.
At that meeting, Council allocated $575,000 in capital expenditure to refit the building for this purpose plus $2.3 million for service provision. Other expenses incurred in this trial have included security patrols and mobile CCTV coverage. This contract to run the service was awarded to Ruah Community Services after an open market tender process.
Council has now resolved that the trial will end by December 2023. This is a fair outcome for all involved as it provides a long notice period for other arrangements to be made. There is nothing stopping this model from being implemented at another more suitable site, but most importantly this decision taken by Council limits our ratepayers' financial liability in an area we are not equipped to service nor should be expected to continually fund.
We have gone above and beyond what a normal local government can do in a delicate and complex social issue. To give some perspective, our entire annual budget for every single area of operation run by the City of Perth is roughly $260 million. Comparing that to the State Government's budget for mental health alone is over $1 billion, it's good to see they are finally taking back the lead in this area as they can clearly afford to resume service provision as is normal.
You can direct all questions on this topic to our local MP for Perth and the first ever Minister for Homelessness - John Carey MP.
Once the Rod Evans Community Centre has been returned to the City of Perth, we will consult with community/neighbours on the appropriate use moving forward. I know it was a popular asset in previous years for family groups and seniors. All ideas are welcome on how it's going to be used in future.
3. Special Budget Review - $5 million saved for the future
Since Council passed our 2022/23 Budget, we have benefitted from cost savings and over $1 million in relief from the State Government's punitive Perth Parking Levy.
Our officers should be commended for finding cost savings throughout the financial year and for proactively assessing how many City owned car bays sat empty thanks to the lingering effects on the CBD economy from COVID restrictions and successfully applied for a partial refund in our overall Parking Levy liability (which at current rates sits at $17.8 million per annum).
If your business ever finds itself in the same situation where your commercial car bays are not being used due to vacancies, I encourage you to contact the Department of Transport to ask for a refund.
What are we doing with the money?
Council has endorsed $5 million to be transferred into two new reserves:
- Sustainable & Resilient City Reserve - $2 million
- Community Infrastructure Reserve - $3 million
Special credit needs to be given to our City CFO Michael Kent for his leadership here. We've acknowledged that delivering future community infrastructure will require early investment and by using this windfall we ensure the burden does not fall entirely on future ratepayers. It also gives us greater financial agility to fund projects identified in our sustainable city strategies.
There were a lot more items on the agenda which you can view here.
Other important updates:
- The City has vigorously defended itself and our ratepayers after the State Government unveiled changes to the way it can spend $192 million accumulated in the Perth Parking Levy fund two days before the Auditor General released its scathing report into its mismanagement. You can view a summary of the change here, or view a recent Seven News Bulletin here.
- Our free parking campaign continues - every single City of Perth car bay (on-street and in our car parks) is free after 6pm every night. We also offer 3 hours free on weekends and public holidays at His Majesty's, Cultural Centre & Pier Street. Find out more here.
- ?Summer might be coming to an end, but the events continue in the City of Perth. Visit here for more information on what's coming up.
As usual if you need help with any City of Perth issue please get in touch: [email protected].