A Whittlesea councillor has claimed it would have cost just $400,000 to keep the Mill Park Leisure Centre open during its $25 million redevelopment.
As reported by Star Weekly, the pool will close on June 30 for close to two years, placing 200 jobs on the line and forcing members to find somewhere else to swim and work out.
The council has previously said the closure will cut construction time, reduce the risk to users and save money.
But speaking at a special council meeting on April 24, which was held to adopt the council’s draft 2018-19 budget, Cr Norm Kelly said the centre was being closed because of $400,000.
“Two hundred people at the Mill Park Leisure Centre will have to find somewhere else to work because we couldn’t find $400,000 in the budget to keep it open,” he said.
Cr Kelly’s comments followed a proposal by Cr Lawrie Cox to include five extra projects – valued at $542,000 – to the budget at the last minute.
Cr Kelly accused his colleagues of pushing “pet projects”, questioning why the five projects should be funded when the council couldn’t find the money to keep the leisure centre open.
The five projects proposed by Cr Cox were a $20,000 funding increase for citizenship ceremonies, $250,000 for a storeroom at Thomastown’s Spring Street hall, $12,000 for a fence on Breadalbane Avenue in Mernda, $160,000 for street and pedestrian lighting in Whittlesea’s Church Street, and $100,000 for an intercultural officer.
Cr Ricky Kirkham also took aim at the decision to include the projects.
“Certain councillors are literally focused on more funding for sausage rolls at citizenship ceremonies,” he said.
Council community services director Russell Hopkins said the $400,000 quoted by Cr Kelly did not take into account the full range of costs associated with a major construction project.
“The decision to fully close the Mill Park Leisure Centre was based on a number of factors, including customer experience, financial implications and the impact of various options on construction times.
“Council … chose to fully close the facility. This will allow the community to access a fully operational and upgraded leisure centre much earlier than if it was constructed in stages and reduce costs significantly.”
