Council continues to plunder Docklands

The City of Melbourne continues to boost its revenue at the expense of Docklands, with the council posting a notional profit of $5.34 million for the first half of the year.

The council had planned to generate a surplus of $4.5 million out of Docklands in the September and December quarters of 2012-13 but exceeded its expectations by an extra $834,321.

The windfall was generated by spending $271,114 less on marketing, $219,108 less on what it calls “Docklands transition”, $65,560 less on waterways services and $74,932 less on “engineering services”.

The council had budgeted to spend $60,000 in Docklands on arts and culture during the six months but, in fact, spent nothing.

The council’s Docklands Finance and Infrastructure Plan report to the March 20 Docklands Co-ordination Committee meeting also revealed that it had planned to spend $204,000 on a Docklands waterfront campaign but saved this by integrating it into a “summer campaign”.

It also saved $53,000 by also integrating parts of its Docklands “brand campaign” into the same “summer campaign”.

On the other side of the ledger, the council spent $51,741 more than it planned to on parks services, $25,937 more on community services and $22,100 more on events.

It also spent $120,00 more than it planned to on the new Docklands library in the first half of the financial year.