Refund would set ‘dangerous precedent’

By Sarah Schwager
A DECISION to remove a special charge scheme to seal a Devon Meadows road has stirred up the dust at Casey Council.
In August, councillors decided to abandon a scheme for residents’ contribution to seal the final section of Manks Road.
The decision came after the Federal Government in May agreed to fund $860,000 of the $1.2 million needed in an effort to stop the road’s home owners having to pay $8707 each to finalise works on the dirt road.
At the last council meeting, residents of another unsealed road in Devon Meadows petitioned to have their contributions to seal Finsbury Road refunded.
They argued their road should also be exempt from the special charge scheme as it was a busy connector road.
However, mayor Colin Butler said a refund would set a dangerous precedent, and worried that Manks Road had already done the damage.
“The residents on Finsbury Road are in the exact same situation (as Manks Road) but they had to go through with the special charge scheme,” he said.
“Manks Road received a substantial amount of federal funding, but by setting that precedent they totally forgot the poor people of Finsbury Road because they had already paid.”
Councillors decided not to refund the residents’ contributions as the claims for refunds could go on forever, as Councillor Mick Morland pointed out.
“We could be paying back $100 million with all the special charge schemes we have done over the years. It could just go on and on,” he said.
“No dirt roads would ever be made in the city again.
“When you buy a farm you don’t pay for the road.
“Sealing roads increases the property value immensely if not double, so it is benefiting them.”
Cr Morland said by refunding residents’ contributions the cost of rates would snowball onto other residents who had already paid for the infrastucture on their sealed roads.
Councillor Lorraine Wreford said: “Are we going to somehow find money that we don’t have for rates we have already charged people?”