Baird wants answers on `missing' Brookie millions

[Phantar]

Could MB or someone please put this in the correct format? Thanks.

From the Manly Daily:

Baird wants answers on `missing' Brookie millions

22 NOV 11 @ 04:53PM BY CARLEEN FROST



Treasurer Mike Baird
TREASURER Mike Baird has demanded Warringah Council explain how they spent a grant delivered by the Iemma government before he considers handing over any more funding for Brookvale Oval.

The $6 million was granted in 2008 for an upgrade to Manly’s home ground.

“It’s important to remember that the primary intent of the $6 million when it was given by the state government to Warringah Council was to provide additional undercover seating in the Jane Try stand,” the Manly MP said.

“This hasn’t been delivered and accordingly the community needs to know how Warringah Council has spent the $6 million of state taxpayer funds provided for the upgrade.”

The council is planning for a $70 million redevelopment of the oval and its surrounds but has revealed it has no money to fund it.

It’s commissioned several design proposals and funding options for the work, which are currently on public exhibition.

Mayor Michael Regan’s preferred outcome is to hand the site over to the state and have them fund the redevelopment.

He said he was unaware the government was seeking details on the grant expenditure. ``That’s the first I’ve heard of it,’’ he told the Manly Daily.

``I would be surprised if they did not already have that information from our last meeting several months ago.’‘

A council spokeswoman could not provide a full cost breakdown of the expenditure but said details of the money spent under the grant had been reported to the Department of Sport and Recreation.

``All the grant funds have been spent as per the state government’s wishes and include new public seats, construction of an extra corporate suite, new food and beverage outlets, new toilets, refurbishment of oval, improved disabled access, roof renewals, new lighting, electrics and scoreboard.’‘

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

a few councilors have had renovations, pools and extensions maybe thats where the money has gone

 

[dowdz]

a few councilors have had renovations, pools and extensions maybe thats where the money has gone

Lol wouldn't put it pass some of them

 

[Darren]

oh yeah, 70 million of planning and no dough lol

 

[Ryan]

There seems to be a lot of mis-communication. The federal govt. are suggesting they are seeing no plans. The state govt. are saying they don't know what happened to the 6 mill.

Is there something rotten happening at the council?

 

[Jonesyv2]

The state / feds are seeing no plans as THE COUNCIL HAS NOT GIVEN THEM ANY PLANS in accordance with the fund they are applying for. We need to get onto our councellors and compel them to actually apply for funding.

Who can blame the state/fed government for not just handing over money to them with no plan, look at how the spent the majority of the $6 million on maintenance and renewal instead of on more seating....

 

[Andrew..]

I'm actually happy to read that a little pressure is coming to bear on WSC, the more they are subjected to public scrutiny the more some of their inept behaviours are being exposed.

I'm pretty confident we will get a complete upgrade.

 

[tookey]

The state / feds are seeing no plans as THE COUNCIL HAS NOT GIVEN THEM ANY PLANS in accordance with the fund they are applying for. We need to get onto our councellors and compel them to actually apply for funding.

Who can blame the state/fed government for not just handing over money to them with no plan, look at how the spent the majority of the $6 million on maintenance and renewal instead of on more seating....

Has the council ever given any government any plans for the redevelopment in all the years we have been chasing funding?

 

[Captain Moondog]

"The council is planning for a $70 million redevelopment of the oval and its surrounds but has revealed it has no money to fund it.".......Genius!

 

[Andrew..]

With the money, Wheel, Manlybacker and a few others lobbied for before games at Brookie a few years back, well a lot of that went missing after Cr Kirsche started wanting to turn it into a dog park

I guess we have to be very careful with our wording...but this could get interesting.

 

[mozgrame]

"That money was just resting in my account". Father Ted Crilly style.

 

[Andrew..]

I'm a little out of my depth here so I will ask.
If funding is given for a particular project can that funding be redirected at the discretion of the mayor or certain councillors.

 

[Masked Eagle]

I'm a little out of my depth here so I will ask.
If funding is given for a particular project can that funding be redirected at the discretion of the mayor or certain councillors.

Depends how it was given to them. If they just got an increase in their funding from the state govt or it was a special fund. Not sure on the relationship between councils and state govt but between depts and federal if you want to use "tagged" funding for something else you need to seek approval again.

 

[Phantar]

Part of the problem might be that Iemma wasn't specific enough with Council on how the money should be spent on enhancing capacity and not towards the general maintenance backlog. The $6m seemed to follow the $4m (allocated by the Council administrator before a new Council was elected) into that bucket. Now we are belatedly seeing seating capacity improvements, albeit very little undercover.

I personally don't have a big problem with having better toilets, kiosks and the like. One big issue is not having permanent maintenance/greenkeeping staff anymore, to oversee the Oval. They are now part of a pool that oversees a number of sporting facilities within Warringah.

God knows how much of that $10m might have been syphoned off into studies, community consultations and the employment of consultants. Not to mention how much has been 'lost' due to inflationary trends since the money was granted, combined with the deliberate (I really mean desultory) pace of improvements.

 

[Jethro]

I'm a little out of my depth here so I will ask.
If funding is given for a particular project can that funding be redirected at the discretion of the mayor or certain councillors.

From memory, I think that those sort of questions were being asked at the time after it was revealed that the funding had been spent on maintenance instead of the upgrades that it was supposedly allotted/granted to the council for.

 

[DSM5]

I'm interested in the comment that the Mayor wants to hand Brookvale to the NSW government as a 'trust' style arrangement. That's the only way I see of having Brookvale turned into an appropriate stadium. In this way the locals (Kirsh) lose some of their 'loudness'.

 

[Stevo]

Yeah my eyes widened when i read that too. It seems like the best idea for everyone.

 

[Rambo1987]

This may be the thing to make change and finally get Brookie fixed.

 

[Canteen Worker]

Just fix it. Fans deserve better and the Sea Eagles are part of the fabric of the Northern Beaches.