By Bridget Brady

A CASEY councillor is calling for the fine food and chardonnay to be put away while ratepayers fork out for the Brookland Greens clean-up bill.
Springfield Ward councillor Sam Aziz has called for a ban on all civic functions for the remainder of this council term, saying “councillors should not be partying while ratepayers are hurting”.
Cr Aziz said councillors needed to lead by example during a time when the council was asking its ratepayers to stretch their budgets, with Casey’s largest proposed rate hike of 11.69 per cent.
“I sought election to the City of Casey not to attend cocktail parties but to govern effectively for our residents and ratepayers,” Cr Aziz said.
On average, about 11 functions are held each year, costing ratepayers $41,000. Councillors’ partners are invited and paid for by council.
“Then those rates are spent on councillors and a select group of others basically eating hors d’oeuvres and sipping chardonnay.”
Cr Aziz has also called for the ban on overseas travel to be extended to domestic travel, and no increases in councillor allowances during this term.
Cr Aziz said he did not want to take anything away from the worthwhile members of the community who were celebrated at these events, but said the council could find other ways of recognising their valuable contributions.
Most other councillors agreed in principle with the idea, but councillor Wayne Smith said he didn’t support it.
Cr Smith said it was important to acknowledge volunteers, and the council had cut back on the few functions it held to celebrate these community members in recent years.
“The amount of money it would save is minimal, but the amount of people affected in terms of volunteers who looked forward to that sort of thing- they’re the ones who would be missing out,” Cr Smith said.
Councillor Simon Curtis said he wouldn’t be averse to supporting the idea, but thought it was like “picking at the low-hanging fruit.”
Deputy mayor Shar Balmes supported Cr Aziz’s suggestion, and said entertainment would be the first thing people would cut in their budgets if times were tough.
“That’s exactly what we need to be doing,” she said.
Casey ratepayers face a possible record-breaking rate rise in this year’s budget to help fund the ongoing mitigation works at the Stevensons Road landfill, which could reach $100 million. The council decided to ditch its $500,000 fighting fund to lobby the government for cash, which may be reflected in a lower rate rise when the budget is considered this month.
In a tight vote, councillors recently decided the minimum it would accept from the government was $20.5 million, after initially asking for $41.9 million.
Mayfield Ward councillor Amanda Stapledon said this left little or no room for further negotiations.
“And despite having had a real opportunity for a positive outcome, we can now be sure that this additional rate rise will be imposed on residents for the next 20 years,” Cr Stapledon said.
Councillors have also been considering cutting capital works projects in the budget to save money, which not all councillors support.