RSL has to pay for road

By Kath Gannaway
UPPER Yarra RSL will have to pay a $77,400 road bill after Yarra Ranges council rejected its plea for special consideration.
The council at its meeting on 13 November resolved to go ahead with the proposal to seal Settlement Road, Yarra Junction.
In his second plea to the councillors, RSL treasurer Geoff Smith called on them to reduce the RSL’s contribution in recognition of its status as a charity and an organisation which contributes to the local community.
He said the RSL considered it inequitable to ask a non-profit organisation to contribute as much as a commercial enterprise would be required to pay.
“We are run by a volunteer committee and if we have to spend so much on the road it would impact on our community work,” he said. He called on the council to reduce the RSL’s contribution from 12 units to five which he said would equate to about $30,000 over the next five years.
Mr Smith had estimated that if the RSL was required to pay the full $77,400 the amount with interest over a 10 years repayment period would amount to $107,000.
Cr Monika Keane supported their request saying it was not unreasonable for a non-profit charity to ask for a reduced rate.
“They are not asking to pay nothing,” she said.
“To pay the full amount would mean $100,000 would be missing from the Upper Yarra community and the community can’t afford for that to be taken away,” she said.
Shire of Yarra Ranges manager civil development services Mark Vermalis defended the decision not to alter the RSL’s contribution saying it was consistent with the policy developed by the council in 2000.
“We think we have a fair policy in place for properties where there is a more intense commercial use of the property compared to the average landowner’s property.
“We are often challenged as to why we don’t give a discount to retired people, as opposed to young families, but the way the act is structured does not recognise the current incumbent’s capacity to pay but the way the property will benefit from the construction of the road.
“The fact the RSL is a charity and the wonderful work they do in the community is one aspect of their operations but another aspect is that in Settlement Road they have a restaurant, gaming venue and facilities which people to which people come and go on a regular basis.”
Mr Vermalis said the decision in no way takes away from the wonderful community work the RSL does but the council is obliged to make fair comparisons with the benefit received with domestic properties in the same road.
Mr Vermalis said the council had given consideration by making the assessment not on the development planned by the RSL under their current planning permit for expansion which he said would have meant a much higher contribution but on the existing situation.
The RSL has 30 days from the decision date to lodge an appeal with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal should it decide to contest the decision.