Campaspe council’s bid to increase community consultation will be expanded to its budget process through a public call for pre-draft budget submissions.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Earlier this year The Riverine Herald uncovered the significant amount of Campaspe Shire Council business that was completed behind closed doors.
At the time Mayor Chrissy Weller said it was the aim of the council to become more transparent and involve the community in the council’s decision-making process.
“We are keen for the community to have an input by nominating ideas on things they think we have missed, or would like us to exclude into the future,” Cr Weller said.
“While we are calling for ideas now, before we start the process, the community will still have the opportunity to have a say once a draft budget is prepared.”
Community submissions for the 2022-23 budget are now being accepted and will not close until Friday, January 14, at 5pm.
The draft budget will not be released to the public until April next year.
There will be a 28-day submission period prior to the council adopting the document before June 30.
A two-page online form can be accessed on the council’s website.
On the home page there is a significant promotion titled “Submit your pre-budget proposals”.
It is a change of direction for the council, which has — at least in recent times —presented its draft budget to the community for feedback rather than asking for pre-budget submissions from its constituents.
Campaspe Shire Deputy Mayor Colleen Gates came on to council with the “open” budget process as one of her priorities, having seen the success of the process through her involvement with the Hobson’s Bay Council in Melbourne.
“I raised it when we were elected a year ago,” she said.
At the time everyone was having to try to absorb so much information as a new council.
“Because we were elected so late in the year it was a bit late to implement anything,” Cr Gates said.
“I raised it again this year and it gained some traction.”
Cr Gates said she believed it was a process that had been in place at some stages earlier in Campaspe Shire’s history.
“I believe when Paul (Jarman) was on council back in 2016 they did it,” she said.
Without the submission process it can be little more than a guessing game for councillors.
“We there are to represent the community, not to guess what they want,” Cr Gates said.
“I want to put forward what people are asking for whenever it’s possible.
“We are really trying to push for more open dialogue and transparency.
“This process will demonstrate further that we are listening.”
Projects such as the budget submission process will enhance the relationship between council and community.
Cr Gates said the implementation of the pre-draft budget submission process in the Hobsons Bay council was invaluable.
She said asking for comments from the public after a draft budget was similar to acting “after the fact”.
“By the time you ask for comments it is already locked in. You can’t make any significant changes,” Cr Gates said.
Council’s finance unit spends four to six months preparing documents to deliver its budget.
“By going out to the community now there is a good flow on to our community consultation,” she said.
“We will have a good idea of what people want.”
Cr Gates was mayor of Hobson’s Bay Council in 2020 and had seen four successful years of budget submissions prior to her election on to the Campaspe local government authority.
“This process typically receives a mixture of requests, from specific trees that people want removed to footpath repairs, right up to more significant projects such as playground upgrades and activities for youth,” she said.
“Some of these can be resolved easily, others take a little longer.
“But through the submission process they are all given some consideration.”
The submission process, in the case of Hobson’s Bay, allowed council to prioritise community projects and regularly improving existing facilities or programs that were being offered.
“Budget submissions have become a regular thing with councils in the last few years,” Cr Gates said.
“If people were thinking on a bigger level, like the Echuca East project it would be more difficult to implement immediately.
“People should weigh that up in their submissions,” she said.
The submission process will allow council to also identify priorities for the longer term, as well as the next 12 months.
“This provides a perfect opportunity for people to speak up.
“It gives those people who we run into down the street and say ‘we are missing out’ to put their case forward.
“People need to engage for this to work.”
The interest levels of councillors across the board in the response of the community to the pre-budget submission process is enormous.
Cr Gates remains uncertain, from previous experience, how the first year will be received by the community.
“I am looking forward to seeing what comes in. It might take a couple of years for people to realise this is out there,” she said.
“You kind of learn through the process how to make it less complicated for people. Part of that is trying to explain to the community what level you pitch stuff at and moderating people’s expectations.”
She said, as was the case with Hobson’s Bay, she was hopeful that the submissions received by the council would be made public.
“They were made public at Hobson’s Bay,” she said.
“They were all listed — which ones got up and which ones didn’t. And it was explained why.
“It would be a perfect situation that each of these submissions will be replied to.
“It is sort of the point, otherwise people will again become disconnected from the process.”
Contributor