The purchase of the Plumb Motors site in Auckland St, Bega, by council, is likely to result in other council projects, such as some general road repairs and maintenance being delayed.
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The warning from BVSC director of strategy and business services Lucas Scarpin is revealed in the confidential documents that have just been declassified following the last council meeting on April 27.
“If council resolves to acquire 77-79 Auckland Street, Bega, council’s long-term financial plan will have to be updated to reflect the new acquisition which will mean that currently committed projects will need to be reassessed for prioritised funding. This will occur during the 2017 financial year planning process,” Mr Scarpin said in his report to council in December 2015 when the opportunity to purchase the Plumb Motors site was being discussed.
Council had first looked at the site in 2013 and offered the vendor the unimproved land value of $348,000, but this was refused. Council then looked at leasing the site for car parking but the $20,000 annual lease was refused as the vendors wanted closer to $39,000.
Since then the site has been listed at $600,000, with Caddey, Searl and Jarman valuing the property at $625,000 in 2013.
Council purchased the site on April 1 for $600,000 and has said that it will cost an estimated $288,000 to turn the 2505sqm site into 90 car parking spaces.
Mr Scarpin also said that the acquisition of additional parking in Bega was not in council’s long-term asset management plans, but acknowledged it was reasonable to expect Bega would need extra parking at some time in the future and that “a strategic acquisition at the right price should not be ignored”.
The declassified documents also show that council paid $550,000 for the Hotel Australasia in Eden. Earlier in the financial year council paid $1.293million for the Auswide building in Merimbula. These purchases were also not part of the long-term plan and as such have no designated funding source, which means they must be paid for from the general fund.