State minister to have power to boot out local councillors behaving badly for a year

THE state government will have a new power to suspend any councillor who poses a ‘threat’ to the running of their council. Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz says the reforms aim to make councils more accountable.

LOCAL councillors behaving badly will be booted out for a year by the state minister under new laws to be introduced to parliament Wednesday.

The changes would also allow for mayors serving two-year terms to be ousted by three-quarters of their fellow councillors.

Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz said the reforms aimed to make councils more accountable.

PC COUNCILS COULD BAN KIDS’ BOOKS, TOYS AND CHARACTERS

LOCAL COUNCILS’ STAFF COSTS BLOW OUT BY $500M

CONCERNS RAISED OVER MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL CULTURE

“Mayors and councillors who behave badly will be gone for a year — the days of them acting with impunity are over,” she said.

The minister will have the power to suspend a councillor who poses a “significant threat’’ to the governance of the council.

Until now, the state could sack an entire council but not an individual. The government sacked the Darren Lyons-led Geelong Council in 2016 and Central Goldfields in 2017.

The new laws also aim to ensure that service charges, such as waste levies, do not exceed the cost of providing those services.

This move comes in the aftermath to a report by the state Ombudsman into the use of Wodonga City Council’s waste levy.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass found that the council collected at least $18 million extra from its waste levy over a decade, and used the surplus — about 30 per cent — to pay for other council services.

Former Geelong mayor Darren Lyons. Picture: Ian Currie

Under the reforms, Victorian mayors will also have to report annually to ratepayers and councils will have to set four-year budgets, in line with state and federal accounting practices, with the aim of setting higher standards in financial management and strategy.

Ms Kairouz said the changes would make councils more accountable and in tune with their communities’ needs.

“We want councils focused on the long term and these changes will help them do exactly that.”

The latest changes follow the Andrews Government’s rate-capping restrictions. Rates for the next financial year can rise by no more than an average of 2.25 per cent.

The Herald Sun reported last month that residents were facing garbage collection fee increases of up to 40 per cent.

Most metropolitan councils were pushing up their levies in response to China’s move to stop ­importing ­­low-quality mixed recyclable rubbish.

[e-mail]

@IanRoyall