By Laura Michell
Hume council is opposing a plan to create a stand-alone Sunbury council, saying it has been kept in the dark about the proposal.
In January, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy announced that a Coalition government would separate Sunbury from Hume, with a Sunbury council to be created as soon as possible.
The plan has drawn the ire of Hume councillors who have been given no information about the plan, despite repeated requests to meet with Mr Guy.
The council has also written to Liberal candidate for Sunbury Cassandra Marr asking for more information.
Councillors are concerned the Coalition is rushing the process.
They fear removing Sunbury from Hume in the next few years would disadvantage residents and council staff, and would result in Hume being asked to pay a multi-million dollar subsidy to the new Sunbury council.
Last month, Ms Marr told Star Weekly the new council would be created using similar financial modelling to that used in 2014 when the Napthine government gave the go-ahead for Sunbury to split from Hume.
Under the previous modelling, Hume council was required to pay $24 million in subsidies to Sunbury council for the first 10 years of its existence.
At a council meeting in Sunbury on September 10, councillors spoke of their concerns that Hume residents were being asked to vote on a policy they had been given no information about.
“If you are an average ratepayer and you are coming to an election in which your representation at one level of government is put at risk, you would want to know what you are voting in,” Cr Drew Jessop said.
“It is a leading issue … it is reasonable for people to want to understand what they are voting on. There are greater implications beyond creating a new council.”
Cr Jack Medcraft said while he was certain Sunbury would have its own council in the future, he felt now was not the time to implement such a policy.
“I just don’t know why we are going down this track when there are a lot more important issues,” he said.
