Cost of becoming city: $238,000
The Town of Kwinana will need to dip into its coffers to the tune of $238,000 to pursue its bid to attain city status.
Picture by Steve Powell: Rockingham’s Blake Nicholls attempts to force his way to the line against Joondalup.
The council passed a motion last week to support a bid to change from town to city status, after surpassing the necessary benchmark of 30,000 residents.
New uniforms for council employees, entry statements and advertising the name change account for three quarters, or about $180,000, of the expenditure.
The Kwinana council will fund the move by dipping into its city status reserve, which totals about $450,000, and which will accommodate transition costs.
The council added $100,000 a year to its reserve account to factor in a bid for city status which has been in the pipeline for a number of years.
Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams said household rates would not be directly affected by a move to city status.
‘‘Comprehensive population forecasts have long provided us with a clear vision of Kwinana’s future and showed with little doubt that we would qualify for city status around 2011,’’ she said.
‘‘In anticipation of this changeover, the Town established a city status reserve several years ago, which at the start of the 2012/2013 financial year will have an accumulated total of approximately $450,000.
‘‘$238,000 of this has been included in next year’s draft budget, however, it will be offset against the reserve savings so will not directly result in an increase in rates.’’
Cr Adams said a number of signage projects had been intentionally postponed in the past few years to ensure the council did not double up on costs, anticipating a move to city status.
‘‘The $238,000 is therefore not only money that will be spent because we are becoming a city; many of the projects will need to be undertaken next financial year regardless of the result of our city status application,’’ she said.
Cr Adams admitted any application would hinge on the State Government’s plans for local government reform in the Perth metropolitan area.
The cost of becoming a city:
Entry statements $80,000
Staff uniforms $50,000
Advertising $50,000
Parks and reserves $30,000
Buildings $10,000
Stationery $8,000
Heavy and light fleet $5000
Street name plates $4000
Honour boards, civic materials $1000
