Council approves trip to North America

CASEY councillor Wayne Smith will use ratepayers’ money to travel to New York and Toronto in July.
Cr Smith hopes to speak to anti-graffiti activists, New York council members and art lovers on the trip, which is expected to take about a week.
The River Gum Ward councillor had the travel approved by a majority of councillors at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Cr Smith will pay for the trip through his education and training allowance. The council had already approved his trip to the United States as part of the Connolly Games.
Councillor Mick Morland offered up the remaining balance of his allowance, expected to be about $3000, for Cr Smith to use.
Each councillor gets $5000 per year to spend on training and education, including attending conferences.
Cr Smith defended his travel request, saying he was always open and accountable with any interstate and overseas trips.
“It is not a holiday. I will be spending two to three days in each city,” Cr Smith said.
“Overseas travel I did years ago directly resulted in savings to this council.”
But not all councillors agreed.
Councillor Steve Beardon said the community had a right to be outraged.
“It’s a disgrace that ratepayers should be paying for jaunts overseas, interstate and locally within Victoria,” Cr Beardon said.
“The bill over the last few years alone could have built a preschool.”