Councillors exchange verbal blows over budget

VERBAL blows were traded and some councillors were accused of “sabotage” as the controversial council budget was handed down in a hostile Maryborough chamber.

VERBAL blows were traded and some councillors were accused of "sabotage" as the controversial council budget was handed down in a hostile Maryborough chamber.

A special meeting of the Fraser Coast Regional Council on Wednesday saw the 2014-15 budget passed 8-3.

Councillors Rolf Light, James Hansen and Chris Loft opposed the budget because they felt the community couldn't afford it.

Cr Loft caused the most controversy when he claimed to have found $8 million in savings from the capital works program.

He is an accountant and proposed an amendment to the budget.

Cr Loft noted several projects he would scrap, including the $2.6 million beautification of Maryborough's CBD, $2.1 million towards coastal protection and the roads and drainage on Hibiscus St in Urangan.

Councillor George Seymour was quick to question Cr Loft's knowledge about the Hibiscus St project.

"Do you know anything about it at all?" he yelled.

Mayor Gerard O'Connell was forced to step in as Cr Loft and Seymour engaged in a verbal clash across the floor.

"If Cr Seymour would like to listen - my point of order is you can't keep building new things," Cr Loft hastily replied.

Others lined up to take a swing at the maverick-style Maryborough representative.

A fired-up Darren Everard joined in the attack on Cr Loft's proposed drastic spending cuts to erosion protection in Hervey Bay.

"Feel free to come down and help me fill up sandbags," he said.

"We're going forwards, not backwards."

Tourism and marketing portfolio councillor Stuart Taylor threw perhaps the most stinging comments at Cr Loft.

Cr Taylor said it was the most disgraceful amendment he'd ever seen.

"This is just not on," he said.

Cr Taylor said Cr Loft was "political grandstanding".

"(It's) sabotage in due process," he said.

Councillors have been discussing the budget for weeks, but Wednesday's proposed changes by Cr Loft came as a surprise and angered some of his colleagues.

Cr McDonald said Cr Loft was talking "financial fantasy" and the council needed to spend the money on infrastructure otherwise the cost would double for the next generation.