Palmerston council the latest council to jump on board community voucher scheme

PALMERSTON council is set to jump on board the local government voucher scheme, with three rounds of vouchers to encourage locals and visitors to indulge in Palmerston businesses

PALMERSTON council is set to jump on board the local government voucher scheme, with three rounds of vouchers to encourage locals and visitors to indulge in Palmerston businesses.

Through the scheme Palmerston plan to contribute a total of $60,000 split into three rounds of $20,000 to the vouchers, with the government set to contribute $160,000 in accordance to the schemes guidelines.

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It will see a total of $220,000 put into the local economy prior to the vouchers being spent.

Palmerston director organisational services Richard Iap said he looked forward to seeing the outcomes of the scheme being reflected into the local economy.

“Given the outcomes from the myDarwin, Council may see up to a six-multiplier effect of the total spend within the local economy,” he said.

“It is intended that round one of the myPalmerston commence in September 2020, round two commence in October 2020 and round three commence in November 2020.”

However Mr Iap said council will need additional resources for the help fund, support, market and run the program, which could come in the form of temporary staff or external consultants to establish the program.

“Council will also require additional resources to ensure the successful implementation of the program including the required auditing processes to ensure funds are spend within the terms and conditions set out by Council and NTG,” he said.

“Even if Council did receive these additional resources, there will still be a considerable amount of resourcing required to run the program successfully.

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“Council does not have the overall capacity like City of Darwin to effectively implement the program. This factor will need to be considered if Council decides to proceed and further details are needed to finalise, including the agreement and the required processing controls which will determine this element.”

If approved, Palmerston will become the fourth municipality to jump on board the scheme with a number of other council’s awaiting approval for their own voucher schemes.

The initiative will be confirmed at tomorrow night’s council meeting.