Pools, ovals may close in country towns
by: Angus Thompson
From: Sunday Herald Sun
March 30, 2013 8:16PM
SWIMMING pools and sports grounds will vanish from many country towns within a decade without more funding, Victoria's rural council group says.
An independent report found 18 country councils, some of them operating in deficit, need $38 million extra a year to remain viable.
Rural Councils Victoria chairman Dean Miller said swimming pools and facilities such as playing fields would be among the amenities on the chopping block if councils could not boost their budgets.
"If there's a lack of funding, councils will not allow assets to be operated if there's a risk to the public, so that means closures," he said.
"Something's got to give. Small communities might have gone to a particular tennis court for years, only to find out that it won't be there anymore."
Many country councils are pruning costs to avoid rate hikes.
Some rural and regional councils are sharing staff and vehicles to save money.
Strathbogie Shire CEO Steve Crawcour, whose council is entering the pilot sharing program with Moira and Shepparton councils, said sporting fields could be consolidated.
"Why would we put money into sporting facilities here when Shepparton is seen as the regional centre?" he said.
The future of Ararat's outdoor swimming pool is also in question after it was closed in 2010 because of a lack of maintenance.
An independent report, published in November last year by local government expert Merv Whelan, modelled the financial capacity of Victoria's 79 councils and found 18 - including Buloke, Hindmarsh and Ararat - needed further cash to stay afloat.
"The only way small councils can survive is by a reasonable level of government assistance, because the smaller and further away you get, the harder it is to be economically viable,"
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/national-news/victoria/pools-ovals-may-close-in-country-towns/story-fndo4cq1-1226609570399#ixzz2P1NwDkm8