Michelle Slater
LATROBE City Council has rated poorly in transparency indicators compared to similar councils in the state, according to the latest local government performance review indicators.
Data shows Latrobe City made double the amount of decisions behind closed doors compared to the state’s average benchmark for all councils.
Local Government Victoria’s Know Your Council website looks into the performance of the state’s councils for 2020 and 2021.
It reveals that 14.36 per cent of decisions made by Latrobe City were made at meetings closed to the public, nearly double that of the benchmark for all councils at 7.81 per cent.
Comparisons to similar regional cities such as Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong found 9.05 per cent of decisions were made out of the public eye.
But the data also revealed there had been a decrease in Latrobe City from the past financial year, dropping from 28.55 per cent.
Latrobe City mayor Kellie O’Callaghan said while council made “every effort to ensure transparency in its decision making processes, some items are considered confidential under the Local Government Act 2020 and as such, must be determined in a closed meeting”.
“This can include decisions about tenders, contracts and funding submissions,” Cr O’Callaghan said.
“We are committed to making council meetings as accessible to the community as we can through live streaming all meetings and facilitating community participation time.”
The Know Your Council website includes 58 measures and a governance and management checklist of 24 items, from data supplied from local governments’ own annual reports.
The website was set up to improve the transparency and accountability of council performance to ratepayers and to provide a more meaningful set of information to the public.
Latrobe City’s community satisfaction with council decisions were also low with a score of 56 out of 100, but slightly better than similar councils at 53 out of 100.
However, Latrobe City’s elected representatives are costing ratepayers far less at $36,900, way below the cost of other councils in the state at $44,400.
Roads and rubbish fared well, with 99.70 per cent of sealed local roads maintained to condition standards, and fewer kerbside bins missed than other councils.
