In preparation for delivering the Federal Government the required Full Business Case that will determine the capacity of Council to receive the earmarked $25m Regional Growth Grant Eurobodalla Council Council is in the process of updating and reviewing the long term operating/maintenance costs of the facility including an appropriate allocation for depreciation. Council continue to press ahead with the $51m Aquatic and Performance project for Batemans Bay driven by the belief that a large portion of the community would argue that the various components to be delivered as part of the new facility, are in fact a high priority. Council have offered, on several occasions that, in some circumstances, areas of the community have not been adequately provided for and have been making do with substandard facilities and little guarantee of any long term certainty suggesting that the building of this new facility will provide those groups with the certainty that they have long desired. It is understood that Council is now seeking to obtain the required funding through the grants process to deliver a new facility to satisfy a diverse range of community requirements stating that the process itself has been very methodical with a number of checks and balances at each key milestone. Council acknowledges that the initial figures provide in the Otium business case have been used to provide a baseline measure for the overall operating costs for the new facility. To ensure these figures have a high degree of accuracy, Council is understood to be speaking with a range of other councils across Australia to benchmark operating and maintenance requirements to ensure the facility can be sustained in the short and long term ensuring the new facility is not something that places an unnecessary burden on ratepayers into the future. Of interest is the benchmarking with other councils will also review expecting revenues and growth patterns to ensure the income projections for the Mackay Park project are as realistic as possible.
Above: Council remains adamant it can not afford a 50m pool for the Batemans Bay community and remains locked into a 25m pool despite building condemnation of the extent and method of community consultation they undertook.
