IN what is described as a “challenging and rewarding year” Mornington Peninsula Shire saw its annual income increase by 3.5 per cent to $264.4 million.
Information contained in the 2020-21 annual report released last week shows the shire had a surplus of $7.6 million – up $2.2 million on the previous year.
Most of the increase came from rates, waste services and capital grants.
“While income from user fees decreased by $3.7 million as some services were restricted or closed due to lockdowns, total income for the year increased by 3.5 per cent to $264.4 million and $50.8 million was spent on 250 capital works projects,” CEO John Baker said.
He said “challenges and highlights” of the year included the Caring for our Community which distributed 3186 care packages to the isolated and needy; offering relief and recovery grants of $238,000 to help individuals, not-for-profit organisations, community groups and business associations support the community through COVID-19, and the Business Support Roadmap, such as the outdoor dining and trading program and expanding the Support Local campaign.
“We hosted a business round table to take stock of what had been done and how the shire could further support the recovery of local businesses over the next 12 months,” Mr Baker said.
“We worked with our community to create a shared vision of the future. More than 3000 people shared their ideas. This will guide council’s policies and priorities over the next four years.”
Highlights of the year are listed as the opening of the $50 million Yawa Aquatic Centre in June – the shire’s biggest ever infrastructure project; securing money to redevelop Flinders Civic Hall; upgrading the Hastings boat ramp; restoring McCrae lighthouse; and Southern Peninsula Integrated Youth Services Hub.
“We worked side by side with community organisations to mount a successful advocacy campaign against AGL’s proposed floating gas plant and pipeline at Crib Point,” Mr Baker said.
“The state government boosted funding in response to our Better Buses campaign. We advocated strongly for more frequent buses, more direct bus routes and an expansion of our network and many of those changes will now take place.”
Mr Baker said the past 12 months had been “incredibly busy and challenging but ultimately rewarding because we’ve learned so much”.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic “has been something of a stress test for the organisation as a whole”.
“Repeated lockdowns mean we’ve learned to be nimble when it comes to service delivery. We had to find ways to safely deliver essential services, support our community and continue our ambitious infrastructure program.
“In the midst of all this activity, we undertook a review of many of our key services and significantly transformed our organisational structure. We spent many months designing a structure that is more flexible, customer-focused and financially sustainable.”
The mayor Cr Despi O’Connor said the “extraordinary year, which began and ended with lockdowns, saw the election of a new council, including nine first-time councillors.
“Our most urgent priority was and remains supporting our community and local businesses through the pandemic,” she said.
“We embarked on our most ambitious community engagement project ever – to create a shared vision for the future of the peninsula – distilled by an independent citizens panel [which] will guide development of our policies and priorities.
“We were one of the first municipalities in Australia to declare a climate emergency and we adopted our climate emergency response plan, Ensuring Our Future. This plan provides a 10-year roadmap to guide the peninsula towards zero emissions by 2040.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 2 November 2021
