Monthly Report - July 2019

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

Local Government elections will be upon us again later this year, and I come to the end of my term serving our community as one of your elected representatives.

The last four years have shown me what is possible with Council and community working together. It is a privilege to serve our community in this role and I am particularly proud of our Town Centre placemaking, reducing red tape, making our City more age-friendly, and recognising the value of arts and culture. At the same time, I see the potential to do so much more.

I’m excited to announce my candidacy for another term as your local representative.

Elections will be held by postal vote, with votes being counted on the evening of Saturday 19 October.

MAYLANDS TOWN CENTRE

Improving Eighth Avenue is an ongoing process. Recently, small café macchiato tables were installed between the armchair style seats, and new pedestrian hoops replaced the old damaged ones at the pedestrian crossing. The remaining yellow parking sign poles will soon be replaced to match the new poles on the street, and we are preparing for the planting of new trees in the median in July.

At the OCM on Tuesday 25 June Council supported $10,000 funding for a sculpture on the corner of Ninth Avenue and Whatley Crescent. The sculpture will be done in consultation with the Place Manager and adjacent local businesses.

WINTER TREE PLANTING

More than 68,000 native plants and 1,300 trees will be planted across the City this winter - making it our biggest planting season to date. The focus will be on increasing the tree canopy in the Bayswater industrial area, with semi-advanced trees being planted on verges to provide shade, create more attractive streetscapes and bring much needed greenery to the area. The City is also partnering with local environmental groups to plant 68,000 native shrubs and seedlings in Lightning Park, Baigup Wetlands, Hillcrest Reserve, Bardon Park, Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary, and the area surrounding Maylands Lakes.

PLANTS TO RESIDENTS

There's still plenty of native plants available for City of Bayswater residents at Environment House / Perth Ecoshop & Sustainability Services. You can take home 10 plants for a $4 donation – just head along to Enviro House on King William Street with your proof of residency to claim your plants.🌿

Find out more and see a list of plant species: https://bit.ly/2KHAYVo

COMMUNITY EVENT FUNDING

The community can now apply for a share of over $100k in funding to run events within the City of Bayswater. Funding is available in two categories: the Major Town Centre Event Grant and the Community Events Grant.

The Community Events Grant is open to businesses and community groups to run events that benefit the local area. It could be a family fun day, multicultural concert, street market, or any event that brings people together in a positive way. There is $58k on offer under this category.

The Major Town Centre Event funding is open to groups who would like to run larger-scale events (attracting 2000 people or more) in one of the City’s four town centres: Morley, Maylands, Bayswater and Noranda. $60k is available across the 2019/20 financial year.

Applications open on 1 July and close 31 July.

Check the City of Bayswater website for more details: https://www.bayswater.wa.gov.au

BUDGET 2019/2020

The City of Bayswater has adopted the annual budget. This has resulted in a general rate increase of 2.95%. In terms of annual increase, the waste charge has gone up a flat rate of $10.45 and rates vary from a low of $26 at the minimum to $54.90 at the high GRV ($30,000).

It should be noted the ESL (Emergency Services Levy) is a State Government charge that does not form part of the Town’s budget, revenue or rates calculation. The State Government sets the charge (it is 2.44% higher than last year) and local governments in the metropolitan area are required, by legislation, to collect the amount on our rates bills and simply pay the amount collected directly to the State Government. The ESL funds the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the City collects and forwards on approximately $11 million.

Waste fees have increased 3% as a result of increased costs of disposing of rubbish and the incremental increase on our collection and transport contracts. This is a charge that sits outside of the rates calculations.