Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly claims complaint over tweet linked to bin tax criticism

A POTENTIAL investigation of a councillor by the local government watchdog has been linked to his criticism of the Yarra council’s planned bin tax.

A formal complaint has been made against Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly. Picture: Kris Reichl

A POTENTIAL investigation of a councillor by the local government watchdog has been linked to his criticism of the Yarra council’s planned bin tax.

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Socialist councillor Stephen Jolly is understood to have allegedly breached council confidentiality after he questioned possible cuts by Yarra to a child care program for low-income families.

It’s believed that Yarra’s acting chief executive Andrew Day has made a formal complaint over the issue, but Cr Jolly claims the real reason is payback for criticising the bin tax.

Cr Jolly tweeted on April 7: “Is Yarra Council seriously going to cut a longstanding afterschool program @ Fitzroy’s public housing estate on Tuesday?”

Is Yarra Council seriously going to cut its long standing afterschool program @ Fitzroy's public housing estate @ secret meeting on Tuesday?

— Stephen Jolly (@stephenjolly99) April 7, 2017

It is believed Mr Day filed a complaint with council watchdog, the Local Government Investigation and Compliance Inspectorate, two weeks later.

Cr Jolly said details of the complaint had been deliberately leaked because of his opposition to the bin tax.

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“It’s pretty ironic that someone breached confidentiality to complain about me breaching confidentiality,’’ Cr Jolly said.

Cr Jolly said it was a shame that the Greens-dominated council was embarrassed about cutting services to some of the poorest kids in the municipality.

“This is a clear punishment to me for opposing their bin tax. I won’t be bullied,” he said.

The council’s communications department monitored Cr Jolly’s Twitter feed, picking up the tweet.

Mayor Amanda Stone was then alerted prompting the official complaint.

The council has been criticised for the controversial bin tax.

A council report on the Atherton Gardens after-school program’s level of service and staffing numbers was put to councillors at a meeting on April 11.

The City of Yarra is being investigated by the Essential Services Commission over plans to separately charge families to have their rubbish collected, on top of their rates bill.

The levy of $247 a year for an average size bin would effectively dodge the state government-imposed 2 per cent rate cap.

Cr Jolly criticised the bin tax proposal, saying the council was propping up a bloated bureaucracy and that total rates revenue was increasing by 11 per cent because of the inner-city apartment boom.

Cr Stone said extra money was needed to preserve services and to meet rising costs, and that the $15.8 million surplus was partly to retire debt.

The council was invited to comment but did not respond.

@IanRoyall