The City of Maroondah will be forced to find up to $40,000 more in its annual Budget if new reporting requirements are introduced by the State Government.

The proposed requirements, released in a recent draft report by the Essential Services Commission (ESC), would leave Council to bear the administrative costs of annually reporting on an additional 65 performance indicators.

Mayor of Maroondah, Cr Alex Makin, said Council’s concerns were shared by the Municipal Association of Victoria.

“What we’re seeing is a proposal that would add nothing to Maroondah in terms of service delivery or extracting the best value from the ratepayer’s dollar,” Cr Makin said.

“While the City of Maroondah appreciates the necessity of compliance with reporting demands, it’s come to a stage where enough is enough as costs threaten to spiral out of control,” Cr Makin said.

According to the MAV, the ESC has identified more than 100 separate reporting demands already imposed on local government by at least 17 different State Government departments and agencies.

“If Council is forced to work within the ESC’s proposed reporting framework, money to enable compliance must be sourced from Maroondah’s Budget. These funds could be better directed to providing vital infrastructure projects and services for the Maroondah community,” Cr Makin said.

For more information on the proposed reporting framework, phone the MAV on 9667 5555.

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