Mount Gambier Council counts the costs of COVID-19 response
From waived rent and rate relief to community development funding, the bill of Mount Gambier Council’s COVID response is beginning to surface.
Mount Gambier
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The cost of Mount Gambier Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has surpassed $1 million.
Initiatives implemented since April 2020 have totalled $174,673 in rate relief, $162,500 in waived rent, $350,000 in development funding, $250,000 in honoured sponsorship and a $200,000 waste trial.
A report detailing the council’s initiatives was noted at Tuesday night’s council meeting and Mayor Lynette Martin said the expenditure was an investment in the community.
“I think we can all be proud of the way council responded to COVID-19 and provided assistance to our community to safeguard their health and to lead the city to a strong and sustainable recovery,” Mayor Martin said.
“Of course this assistance does come at a cost to council.”
Mayor Martin said an internal evaluation is underway to determine which initiatives worked and which did not to create frameworks for emergency management into the future.
Waived rent has impacted the council’s budget by $162,500.
All community and sporting tenants plus maintenance charges were waived in April at a cost of $130,000.
Extending this support to tourism and commercial tenants added $16,000 and continues at $2000 per month, plus a further $16,500 for a single commercial tenant.
Rate relief for local business totalled $174,673 across 177 properties with payments refunded or waived for one quarter.
The COVID-19 Community Development Fund was established in May as a direct response to the pandemic to enable community and sporting groups to undertake works while activities were unable occur.
More than 30 community groups have received funding with the pool was increased from $200,000 to $350,000 due to demand.
Honouring part or full sponsorship agreements for cancelled or postponed events equated to around $250,000.
Praising the council’s efforts councillor Sonya Mezinec said now was the right time to reflect on what had been done.
“We stepped in really quickly and we did a lot of strategising as a group to look at how we can assist our community especially when there’s so much uncertainty,” Cr Mezinec said.
Other initiatives included a Kerbside Bulky Waste Trial costing $200,000, deploying more than 750 staff hours to essential community services such as Meals on Wheels, Foodbank and SpareYaChange for Kids, the creation of 21 COVID-19 employee positions and a collaborative campaign to encourage local business support.
The Blue Lake walking track was restricted to one way in April, with the exception of the narrow Bay Rd section it has since returned to two-way foot traffic.
Cr Paul Jenner raised community concerns, saying it had done its job but was now time to return to normal.
“There’s no legal requirement for it,” Cr Jenner said.
“The community who we’re accountable to are complaining about it
Acting chief executive Barbara Cernovskis said the walking track restrictions were being regularly reviewed.
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