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.
Thanks for all your research to untangle the obfuscation and lack of transparency John.
That really is a disgusting waste of valuable money allocated to assist the less fortunate. So glad a bunch of tourist businesses and a heap of backpackers could benefit instead.
About time to stand for council again, maybe as Cate Coorey’s deputy mayor?