AT THE October BCSC meeting, when moving the Links Street Special Charge Scheme (SCS), Cr Bell stated “there were only two objections out of 12 houses” and this “reflects a general desire by the residents ... to improve safety, access and liveability in their neighbourhood.”
This is an inadequate representation of the factual data council collected, and questions whether councillors are genuinely seeking to represent the majority of ratepayers or pandering to small interest groups.
Rather than focusing on the two no votes, council should have openly outlined and clarified the factual composition of the final vote.
The Bass Coast Engage page factually shows:
1. The initial petition was signed by around 75 per cent or nine out of 12 ratepayers.
2. In the final vote, resident support for the project fell by 33 per cent, and only 41.5 per cent or five out of 12 ratepayers voted for the scheme.
3. Equally, 41.5 per cent of ratepayers did not vote at all.
4. Combining non-votes with no votes reveals that 58 per cent or seven out of 12 of the residents did not vote to support the scheme.
5. As it does BCSC assumed control of the non-votes and used them to support the declaration of a scheme which did not even achieve 50 per cent ratepayer support.
Having failed to implement the Sunderland Bay/Surf Beach SCS, BCSC made targeted changes to its URDI policy to make it easier to initiate an SCS, lowering from 70 to 50 per cent the required percentage of signatures needed to lodge a SCS petition. This made SCS schemes easier to initiate but extremely difficult to stop.
Once proposed by petition, the only way to stop a scheme is for 50 per cent plus one of affected ratepayers to vote against it.
This is demonstrated by both Links Street and the Pioneer Bay SCS, where the only votes were 27 no votes. Not a single vote was registered in favour of that scheme, yet BCSC pushed it through.
Residents need to be very careful about signing a special charge petition. You may find that doing so results in the loss of any influence or control over the future development of your street.
Ross Bencraft, Surf Beach