Boroondara Council set to drop a staggering $11.7 million on new website
BOROONDARA Council, which takes in suburbs including Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell, is set to blow at least $11.7 million on its website redesign — and the project isn’t finished.
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AN INNER Melbourne council has signed off on spending at least $11.7 million on its website redesign — with further costs potentially to come.
Documents from Boroondara Council’s meeting this week reveal global consulting giant Deloitte is behind the “website redesign and digital transformation project”, which had a staggering budget of $8.7 million for its first stage.
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And councillors unanimously approved a further $6.4 million for phase two of the project, to start before July 1.
That indicates a total spend of $15.1 million, which the council at first confirmed to the Leader.
However, it later claimed the “revised overall total project value” was $11.7 million, and that some money from phase one was used to partially fund phase two.
Phase one of the project, finished in May last year, involved consolidating seven websites into one “unified council web presence”, the meeting heard.
The second phase will deliver “key foundational technology infrastructure”.
The documents also state “further analysis and planning would be undertaken” for a third phase of the project.
Deloitte was awarded the contract in late 2016 after a “competitive tender process”, the documents state.
In comparison, Stonnington Council spent about $350,000 on its new website, which was launched in 2015.
Bayside Council budgeted $269,000 for work on its website unveiled in 2016, including site research, design, user testing, build and a back-end content management system.
The affluent Boroondara Council, with suburbs including Camberwell, Balwyn, Kew and Hawthorn, will rake in $171.63 million in rates revenue, and more than $15 million in fines and fees, in 2017/18.
Melbourne website design specialist Paul Cousins, whose company Web Initiatives undertakes government contracts and builds websites for medium-sized businesses, said the council’s cash splash appeared “extraordinary.”
“It’s extremely difficult to give a quote without knowing the details of the project. (But) it’s certainly on the other side of normal,” Mr Cousins said.
“It seems an extraordinary amount to spend on a website. I think council and these types of government jobs (attract) higher quotes.”
Boroondara Residents Action Group acting president Mary Drost said she was “stunned” by the council’s spend.
Ratepayers Victoria vice-president Frank Sullivan said one of his group’s biggest concerns was irresponsible spending by councils.
“We want ratepayers money spent wisely. It’s so easy for councils to spend ratepayers’ money without looking at the options or cutting costs,” Mr Sullivan said.
He also said companies tended to quote higher amounts for council contracts.
Boroondara Mayor Jim Parke defended the spend, and said the council would continue to invest in digital transformation “to ensure interactions with us are seamless and more efficient”.
“Improvements will continually be introduced with online transactions such as new eForms to request a hard waste collection or parking permit,” Cr Parke said.
“These e-forms help us improve the experience for customers, while achieving greater efficiency in our processes.”
The council is spending about $87 million on staff salaries this financial year, and has projected an operating surplus of $26 million.
A Deloitte spokesman said he was unable to comment on the company’s contract with the council and all questions should be directed to the council.
Councillors Steve Hurd and Jack Wegman were absent from Monday’s Boroondara Council meeting.
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