At our council meeting on June 26, we formally adopted the 2019-20 budget.
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Again, it has been a challenging exercise for staff to balance a continued commitment of maintaining community services, renewing and upgrading infrastructure and funding the key initiatives that have been forecast in our council plan.
As one of Victoria's small rural councils, Yarriambiack Shire has a budget of just $26 million to achieve these outcomes. Councillors commend our managers in devising a program that will deliver for our communities.
Yarriambiack Shire Council recently received the results from the 2019 Local Government Satisfaction Survey. Our overall performance score of 62 exceeds the statewide score of 60 and is better than the small rural score of 58. Our trend in all measures has been consistent for the past seven years. The rating given to the condition of local sealed roads remains low, despite a rise in score over the past two years. We hope to continue this improvement.
Service clubs and volunteer groups work hard for our communities and often don't receive the recognition they deserve. Last week, I had the privilege to attend changeover evenings for Minyip Lions Club and Warracknabeal Rotaract Club. Both organisations undertake a range of activities that enable the club to fund other community groups. Minyip Lions financially supported the town's Progress Group and regularly provides a free newsletter for town residents. The Rotarians raised money for the town's animal rescue service and ran a trivia night that allowed them to present the Ladies Rest Room Committee with a substantial cheque.
On July 3, chief executive Jessie Holmes and I met with Western Victoria MP Andy Meddick. We were able to inform him of issues such as the incomplete state of Warracknabeal's education precinct, the reduction in funding available from Regional Development Victoria and the proposed electoral structure in the draft Local Government Act.
We wish to retain the current three ward and seven councillor structure. The draft act only offers single council wards or an unsubdivided model for rural shires such as ours.
Andy was interested to learn that Wimpak is looking at moving into the market for textured vegetable protein through the processing of field peas and chickpeas grown in our region. As the Animal Justice Party's sole representative in Parliament, he strongly supports alternative sources of protein.
On Thursday, July 4 I went to Rainbow to learn about the benefits of the Doppler Weather Radar Station being installed near Pullet. It will send out pulses that measure the size, velocity and direction of precipitation bands up to 150km away, thus giving an accurate forecast of weather for up to a week. The station will fill the gap that exists between those at Mt Gambier and Mildura.