By XAVIER SMERDON
The Werribee Region U3A provides courses ranging from yoga to Australian history for Wyndham’s senior residents.
President of the group, Brian Beck, told Star the classes helped people keep their minds and bodies active.
But recently they were informed that they would no longer be receiving as many subsidies as they used to help them pay for the rental of council-owned rooms in which they hold their classes.
“The council used to give us three rebates a year to help us pay for the venues but at the beginning of this year we found out that we would only receive one rebate,” Mr Beck said.
“We’ve been told they are now reviewing how many rebates we will receive but this won’t be completed until June, so until then everything is up in the air.”
Mr Beck said the club had been struggling since 2012 and last year they were required to raise their membership fees from $25 to $40, leading to a drop in membership numbers.
Wyndham Council CEO Kerry Thompson said a review into community centres had been undertaken last year.
“The review found U3A were using a number of community centres, under a number of different funding and other arrangements. U3A had been receiving a subsidy for the use of one facility, but this had then been applied to more than one centre, which is not current policy, and they were being charged a rate lower than they were eligible for,” Ms Thompson said.
“From the beginning of the 2014-2015 financial year, U3A will pay the ‘community benefit’ rate for their room bookings, which is the same as any other, similar organisation.
“The impact on U3A has been discussed with them and the group have been given 6 months notice to plan for the change.”
