By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
CHRISTMAS magic will be left to Santa this December after council decided not to fund community Christmas decorations in Cardinia Townships.
In March, council moved that it would consider the “potential allocation of $200,000 for the provision of Christmas decorations in Townships as part of the deliberations on the 2015/2016 budget.”
Council then contacted business and community groups, inviting them to respond to the proposal.
After receiving limited feedback from just two business groups on the idea, the matter was withdrawn at Monday night’s meeting by Ranges Ward Councillor Brett Owen.
Cr Owen said it was disappointing that the community had not taken the opportunity to contribute.
“There was a petition back in late December last year, where the petition went around requesting for council to install Christmas decorations in Beaconsfield,” he told council.
There were a number of reports that came to council, and the latest was deferred to get feedback from the community.”
He said the only community groups to respond to the call out were the Maryknoll Progress Association and the Emerald Village Committee, who both made it clear that Christmas decorations were not a priority.
Cr Owen had also visited the original petitioner, a business owner in Beaconsfield.
“I encouraged this person to get her fellow businesses to provide further feedback on what they want.
“Unfortunately, no correspondence was received.”
“With very limited feedback to this, I think it’s appropriate that we defer this matter and if there is a community will in the future, we might make future budget allocations.”
Many councillors commented that it was disappointing that so few groups within the community had responded to council’s request.
Councillor Tania Baxter said it was a missed opportunity for community groups to express their views directly to council.
“There’s no way that council can understand the needs of the community if they will not communicate with us.”
Gazette readers were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of council-funded Christmas decorations. Through a Facebook post, Roslyn Watson said the money could be better spent.
“Use the money to fund things like the S.E.S. perhaps?”
However, Tony O’Hara believes that the real issue is Pakenham’s lack of a Chamber of Commerce.
“If we had an active Chamber of Commerce for each of the major areas, maybe businesses could chip in,” he said.
“If that happened, maybe a council contribution would be warranted. After all, businesses would also gain from the increased activity.”
Council has not previously funded Christmas decorations within Cardinia.
