CBD property owner Bill Votsaris puts the call out so business can have bigger say at City Hall

New changes mean Geelong property owners could have a bigger say on who represents them on council – but one prominent player remains unhappy.

Bill Votsaris says CBD property owners need to have a louder voice on council. Picture: Alison Wynd.

A prominent CBD property owner is urging Geelong landholders to ensure they are registered to vote in this year’s council elections, claiming City Hall has dropped the ball in informing them of rule changes.

Bill Votsaris, who owns several central Geelong properties, said CBD property owners had long done the heavy lifting in generating revenue for council.

But he said that economic activity had not been recognised because councillors focused their attention on where votes could be won.

The Brownbill ward takes in the CBD, but stretches from South Geelong and Whittington in the east, to Bell Post Hill in the north and Fyansford in the west.

“Per square metre, Geelong gets its highest revenue from central Geelong, compared to anywhere else, but yet we don’t have any representation at council,” he said.

“Council is budgeting to get almost $3m more in parking fines from the CBD this year – what councillor stood up against that?

“That’s not going to entice anyone to come to the city, I don’t get it, it seems counterintuitive.”

Changes to the Local Government Act ahead of this year’s Victorian local government elections means someone who owns a property in a council where they are not on the state electoral roll are no longer automatically enrolled to vote.

Rather, they must apply directly with the council to vote by 4pm on August 7.

Under the changes, it is now compulsory for anyone enrolled to do so.

Mr Votsaris, who owns a string of properties along Little Malop St between Moorabool and Gheringhap streets, said he only became aware of the change when he was sent a letter from the City of Monash, where he also owns property.

“They proactively wrote to every business (property owner) informing them they can vote … this is how a professional council does it,” he said.

“I think many Geelong property owners are unaware they can vote and I think once councillors know they can (vote), they will take us more seriously.”

Geelong council’s executive director of corporate services Troy Edwards said City Hall sent 27,442 letters – all but one were to residents.

“The city wrote to all residents that were within the mandatory requirements as determined by the Victorian Electoral Commission,” Mr Edwards said.

A VEC spokeswoman said if someone owned and paid rates on a property in the council area where they were already state-enrolled, they did not get an additional vote for that same council.

“The principle is one vote per council,” she said.

“If someone owns multiple properties in a single council area where they are not on the state roll, they can choose which property to enrol for (if they wish to enrol) and are limited to one vote for that council.”

A new ward structure for Geelong will see 11 new wards created, each to be represented by a single councillor.

The Kardinia ward will take in the CBD but due to the small residential population of the CBD and the need to have a similar number of voters in each ward, suburbs such as Newtown, Geelong West, and North Geelong will also be included.

The only confirmed Kardinia candidates thus far are former mayor Stretch Kontelj and the Greens’ Emilie Flynn.

In 2021, central Geelong’s population of 2518 represented less than 1 per cent of the region’s total.

Originally published as CBD property owner Bill Votsaris puts the call out so business can have bigger say at City Hall