Parkland pain

By Melissa Grant
LAKESIDE Pakenham ratepayers are rallying against a three per cent surcharge on their rates to pay for the upkeep of the estate’s parks and gardens.
The community has submitted a 230-signature petition to the Cardinia Shire Council as the council prepares to take over full responsibility for maintenance of the estate in the coming financial year.
This means ratepayers in the estate will be hit with an 8.8 per cent average rate rise, compared to the 5.8 per cent for ratepayers living in other areas of the shire. The three per cent surcharge would see Lakeside ratepayers pay about 56 cents a week over what others paid in rates.
Jack Mitchell, the chair of the Lakeside Community Development Forum, said the number of signatures on the petition were “a testament” to the feelings of the members of the Pakenham Lakeside community.
“We’re already being faced with additional costs to live in a wonderful community – but it’s not Toorak, it’s not South Yarra,” he said.
The council will spend $208,000 per year on maintenance in the estate, which has more than 36 hectares of open space. The sum includes $48,000 for upkeep of the lake.
Pakenham Lakeside ratepayer Stuart Lindsay, who helped collect signatures for the petition, said many of the estate’s residents were against the surcharge.
He said ratepayers across the municipality benefited from the estate’s open spaces.
“Lakeside isn’t a gated community – the public has access at all times,” he said.
“Do you not think this will create an us-and-them scenario?”
Cardinia Shire councillor Brett Owen said parkland and gardens in the Lakeside estate were of parkland status, unlike those in the rest of the shire which were kept to a neighbourhood standard.
“Would the Lakeside be happy to revert to the neighbourhood standard?” he asked.
Mr Lindsay said he enjoyed the standard of parklands and gardens in the estate and would prefer to see them maintained.
He said he wasn’t against the rate surcharge, provided he could be guaranteed that the full amount would be spent in the estate.
Cardinia Shire mayor Bill Pearson said the council would provide a detailed costing of how the surcharge would be spent.
The three per cent surcharge was included in the council’s 2009/10 draft budget which councillors are set to adopt on Monday night.