It goes without saying that this election is a pivotal moment for the future of Perth.
Three years ago, Basil Zempilas was elected Lord Mayor along with eight councillors to provide steady leadership for Western Australia's capital city government after a chaotic and expensive inquiry.
Over that time, I have seen the team in action every week. While you only get a glimpse of what happens via social media and through my regular newsletters, we've engaged in passionate debate and occasional differences of opinion as we seek to deliver the best outcomes for ratepayers.
Let me get to the point.
When ballots arrive in coming weeks, I'll be supporting Basil Zempilas for a second term as Lord Mayor and here's why.
Under Basil's leadership, Council stood up to the State Government over the WACA Pool debacle. That could have been potentially a $120 million + liability for ratepayers. But now it’s capped at $25 million and our East Perth residents get their aquatic facility.
We are fixing the $77 million/year parking business so it returns a greater dividend to ratepayers. This income stream is a big reason why we can keep your rates low. In 2020, the profit margins were terrible. High costs and COVID resulted in the perfect storm. When we arrived this unit had no business plan and no transparency in costs. It was a complete mess. We've fixed the basics and now we continue to improve this area with new technology to lower costs and provide a better choice for customers.
We are more strategic in our approach to our $800 million property portfolio. Again, when we arrived, there was no plan. There was no strategy. Now after our hard work as a team, a strategy is in place. We are developing sites owned by ratepayers to attract new tenants and new life in areas of the City doing it tough. We are putting this massive portfolio to work for ratepayers.
Our planning team is kicking goals with the drafting of our new town planning scheme and the implementation of several interim policies to ensure development can happen now before this is finalised. You don't need to wait for the WAPC to approve it. If you have a project in mind, you can get this started now. That's been our message from day one - this City is open for business.
We get the City is made up of neighbourhoods. This is not a new concept. That's why we brought together the planning team again to lead community consultation and final delivery of our Neighbourhood Place Plans in 2021. This blueprint guides our investment and future development of each community in Crawley, Nedlands, West Perth, the CBD, Northbridge, East Perth and Crawley. It's happening now.
In 2022/23, for the first time in recent history, our capital works team completed 90 per cent of their projects. I know this may sound odd to celebrate, but in local government, it's not uncommon to have 30 per cent of the projects you say you'd complete kicked forward into the next year. That means your rates are taken by the council and kept for no outcome. In Perth's example, just four years ago they barely completed half their project schedule. Now we've got the basics right let's go better next year, as a team.
And then we look at the history of the Perth Parking Levy. This is the single greatest taxation injustice I have encountered in my time in local government. Without Basil's leadership in requesting urgent review by the Office of the Auditor General, we wouldn't have discovered just how bad the situation was. Now, thanks to Basil and our Council's relentless pursuit of the issue - backed by ratepayers - the State ushered in a few changes. It's still nothing compared to what was requested, but it's a better deal for ratepayers than what they were getting.
These are just some of the headline projects we have started in the first three years together with Basil as Lord Mayor.
That's on top of three consecutive budgets with the lowest rate rises in the Perth metro area with a total spending growth of just over 6 per cent in that time.
These achievements weren't delivered by an individual. They weren't delivered through motherhood statements or flashy social media posts. They happened through hard work behind the scenes at Council House every single week.
I know this because I have been there with Basil since 2020. My term doesn't expire until 2025, so I will still be here regardless of the result.
That's why I am strongly endorsing Basil Zempilas for another term as our Lord Mayor to finish the job we started. Now is not the time to put all of this hard work at risk.
How to vote
Australia Post will begin delivering ballot papers from Wednesday 20 September onwards. This process may take a week or so to reach you. If you do not receive a ballot and believe you are registered, email election@cityofperth.wa.gov.au
Yours sincerely,
Brent Fleeton
Councillor - City of Perth
www.brentfleeton.com.au