Council fenced in over costs

A CASEY councillor has questioned why the City of Casey no longer helps residents pay for the cost to repair a fence that backs onto a reserve.
Cr Geoff Ablett last Tuesday successfully called for a report into the “legal reasons” as to why council no longer pays up to half the cost of repairing or replacing a damaged fence with “all residents”.
In June 2014, council amended its Shared Cost Fencing Policy which previously directed the council to contribute up to half the cost of a standard paling fence for some reserves.
Cr Ablett said there were many people in the community frustrated at the policy change.
“There’s a large amount of people who don’t understand how council cannot pay 50 per cent,” he said at a council meeting on Tuesday night.
“They see it as unfair.”
Council resolved to have a report on the issue completed by September.
At the time of the policy change last year City of Casey Manager Engineering David Richardson said the council amended the policy to align with its “legal obligations”.
“Council is obligated to share fencing costs where council is an occupier of the land,” he said.
“Council is not considered an occupier where there is general public access to land, such as reserves.”