By Brendan Rees
Casey Council has boosted its school crossing funding to more than $1 million thanks to VicRoads pitching in half the funds.
Last year the city got nearly $250,000 in funding, bringing the total to $894,968 for this financial year. But this was short of the 50/50 commitment promised by the Minister for Roads in December 2016.
City of Casey Mayor Cr Geoff Ablett said after negotiating with VicRoads, funding had increased to $1,147,790, returning the funding to that of the 50/50 partnership level.
Cr Ablett said school crossings were a crucial service for Council and services could not be delivered “without adequate financial contributions.”
He said 50/50 split for the 2018/19 School Crossing Program would be announced in the May 2018 State Budget.
“Children are one of our most vulnerable road users and are at a higher risk when crossing roads due to their size and inability to judge speed and distance.
“Our School Crossing Supervisors do a remarkable job positioned day-in-day-out come rain, hail or shine ensuring that we keep our children safe when travelling to and from school,” Cr Ablett said.
“We hope this arrangement continues on for future years and will continue to work with VicRoads to maintain not only this partnership but to ensure that the School Crossing Program continues to meet the needs of our community.”
Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan said the school crossing supervisor program was a shared responsibility between state and local governments, “and we need to work together to ensure its success.”
“We’ve provided more than $1 million to the City of Casey as part of a fair and equal 50/50 share of the actual program costs,” he said.
