By Michael Sinclair
VISITORSto Brimbank City Council’s ordinary meeting last week could be forgiven for wondering just how much a humble sausage is worth.
Because the elected members had a second bite at arguing over a subject some thought done and dusted.
And Councillor Miles Dymott is concerned that some councillors have cooked up a political storm over a trivial sausage-sizzle fundraiser.
Star last week reported plans by Councillor Sam David to submit a recision motion on an issue councillors had voted on just a few days earlier.
The council voted on 11 April to scrap a $50 council-imposed permit for community groups wanting to raise funds by holding a sausage sizzle.
Cr Dymott said the cost covered processing an application, which called for the applicant to know the correct food-handling procedures.
But after passing the motion, councillors have now performed a back-flip, and called for a report to be commissioned before voting on the issue again.
This caused Cr Dymott to accuse some councillors of “putting politics ahead of the community”.
“We have so many important issues to tackle and I, as a councillor, shouldn’t have to fight such a hard battle to have such a ridiculous fee waived,” Cr Dymott told Star.
“I think we’ve got plenty of information about the issue.
“We’ve been given a cost, including the fee paid by businesses that wouldn’t be waived. The combined revenue for permits from businesses and community groups was $7500 last year, so the actual cost to council will be less than that.
“It will cost council money for the time the council officer takes investigating this issue – when most councillors have a view of waiving it anyhow.”
The recision motion was met with boos from the public gallery, with some residents accusing the council of being “heavy handed”.
But Cr Anthony Abate, who said he did not vote in the first instance because he didn’t know enough about the issue, denied playing politics.
“I just think we need some more informed information about the whole thing,” he said at the meeting.
Cr Dymott said as only a small amount of $7500 was paid to council in permit fees last year, the financial implications to council and ratepayers was insignificant.
A report has been commissioned and is expected to return to council in the next few months.
