A new policy that may see community groups pay half of the fee to hire the town hall has come about as a result of Fit For the Future discussions, Young Council heard on Wednesday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors gathered for their April monthly meeting, at which a draft policy - with seven criteria for council to consistently manage hire fee donations - was tabled.
The idea for a policy was first raised at council’s February meeting by general manager Peter Vlatko, who likened himself to Father Christmas with council constantly giving the hall hire away at no cost.
Requests from local community groups and charities for council to waive the $230-plus fee are put before the council almost monthly and have caused some headaches for councillors in the past.
But last Wednesday night Mr Vlatko said council needed to consider their financial future with the proposed council mergers on the horizon.
He said most government projects required council matching costs dollar for dollar.
“We’ve got a starting point, it’s up to council whether it’s feasible or valid,” he said.
“At this point it’s 50 per cent so it shouldn’t hurt them.”
But the policy won’t mean charities and not-for-profit organisation have no other avenues for appeal.
If they still required financial assistance once the subsidy was given, Mr Vlatko said they still had the opportunity to apply for a donation through council’s 356 Committee, which handles all of council’s donations to local groups for various events and projects.
This could mean the groups have the potential to cover the remaining half of the hall hire costs.
Councillors Sandy Freudenstein and John McGregor were concerned about charging community groups but were comforted to hear remaining costs could be covered through other avenues.
“But that (356 Committee donations) only happens once a year and some don’t know when their events will be until months before,” Cr Freudenstein said.
Mr Vlatko reassured the councillor if groups missed the 356 Committee deadline, they still had the opportunity to go through council.
“The people of Young actually built this whole complex… This is a community building,” Cr Freudenstein said.
She said council needed to think about their decision when people could use other venues in town for free.
Councillors agreed to put the new draft policy on public exhibition for 28 days to hear how the community feels about the change.
The Young Lions Club managed to get their $462 town hall hire fee to host their annual quilt show over two days in May waived that night because the policy wasn’t in place yet.
