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Ingram seeks grant inquiry to assist rural councilsThe ‘as of right’ entitlement in the Victoria Grants Commission Act has a disastrous impact on rural councils, Gippsland East MLA Craig Ingram told State Parliament last week. By Craig Ingram - 10th June 2003 - Back to News Seeking action from the Government, Mr Ingram requested that the Treasurer "inquire into the issue and to investigate the impact the Victoria Grants Commission funding allocation is having on rural councils and their ability to maintain their services."
"The Grants Commission distributes Commonwealth funds allocated for road funding to the municipalities within the State," Mr Ingram said.
"However the Commonwealth Parliament set out certain guidelines directing how the Grants Commission must determine these allocations.
"The State Parliament was virtually bound to follow, despite reservations expressed when the Bill was debated in 1987.
"A National Party Member stated that he did not understand why his Commonwealth colleagues voted for it."
One section of the Bill states:
In making a determination the Commission must have regard to the objective of ensuring that the allocation of funds for local government purposes is made, as far as practicable, on a full horizontal equalization basis, being a basis that ensures that each council in the State is able to function, by reasonable effort, at a standard not lower than the average standard of other councils ...
However, the Act requires the Grants Commission to allocate 30% of the money on a per capita basis. This means that metropolitan councils receive substantial allocations even if they do not need it for roads. To ensure that this does not become an embarrassment, the funds are not "tied" to road expenditure and can be used to reduce the level of rates if the council so decides.
"The Treasurer has made a lot of comments about how the Commonwealth Grants Commission funds Victoria and how Victoria misses out on its fair share of resources", Mr Ingram said.
"I would like the Treasurer to hold a full inquiry into how the funds from the Victoria Grants Commission are allocated in order to ensure that all councils in the state are able to function in an effective manner".
Speaking in his electorate later, Mr Ingram said that he had obtained statistics from the Victoria Grants Commission several weeks ago that show conclusively that rural councils are severely disadvantaged by the ‘as of right’ entitlement.
"I was astonished to learn that the Department of Victorian Communities is not interested in these figures and is therefore unaware of the impact of rates in country Municipalities," he said
Mr Ingram is awaiting the Treasurer’s response with interest.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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