John Lazarus, Byron Bay
No it wasn’t Byron Council’s budget cuts that put the $50,000 upgrade of Mullum pool on ice. The money that could have been used was spent on the $2.1m redevelopment of Railway Park, Byron Bay.
The mayor publicly informed the community that the $2.1m came from unallocated paid parking money. But it didn’t. After going through council’s budgets, and three emails with Council, I got the actual source of the $2.1m spent on Railway Park. It came from existing allocated council funds, held by Council, that were allocated to be spent on the Byron and Suffolk catchment, and on Shire-wide community facilities.
Railway Park’s redevelopment used (in part) Council funds of $442,000 held for Shire-wide community facilities, $35,000 held for Shire-wide disability access ramps, and $170,000 held for civic improvements, including Shire-wide disabled access facilities.
The $50,000 to initiate solar heating for all-year-round opening of the Mullum Pool, a new children’s pool, a rehab pool, and pool access for all abilities, could have come from those funds. I believe the $50,000 funds for the Mullum Pool upgrade (and the remaining $2,050,000 that could have been spent on other community infrastructure and facilities) have all been sacrificed to spend on dolling-up Railway Park and to further progress rolling out the development changes in Byron Bay’s Masterplan.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
