Melbourne City Council wants to use ratepayers’ money to create its own IT company

MELBOURNE City Council wants to to use ratepayers’ cash to set up its own IT company — Melbourne Digital Enterprises — to make money from the commercial and public sector operators.

MELBOURNE City Council wants to use ratepayers’ money to create its own IT company.

The business, Melbourne Digital Enterprises, is being proposed to create business with commercial and public sector operators.

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The proposed company is likely to use the template of the council’s other subsidiary company, Citywide, which provides waste, road and traffic services to both Melbourne and other councils under contract.

No budget has been set for the venture because “the first phase is exploratory and will have minimal resource requirements”, a City of Melbourne spokesman said.

Formal approval has been sought from Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz to endorse the plan to create a subsidiary company.

“This application will outline the City of Melbourne’s approach to the enterprise including an appropriate business plan,” the spokesman said.

The council hopes to use its IT knowledge to offer digital services to other councils.

“The aim of Melbourne Digital Enterprises is to deliver at-scale services to the local- government sector to create a tangible return for ratepayers from the data, expertise and intelligence that the City of Melbourne gains during its day-to-day operations,’’ the spokes­man said.