Town Centre Revitalisation Part Funding Withdrawn
Media Release: Town Centre Revitalisation Part Funding Withdrawn
August 2017
The Shire of Manjimup received notification on the 9 August 2017 that $3,000,000 was required to be returned to State Government from the Royalties for Regions component of the Revitalisation of the Manjimup Town Centre Project. The Shire is confident that the project will still be delivered as planned albeit with a small scaling back of some project initiatives.
Shire President Paul Omodei said "Following the State Election in March 2017 the Shire of Manjimup became aware that the new State Government had commenced a strategic review into all projects previously funded fully or in part by the State Government, including those funded under the Royalties for Regions program. The review was part of a broader review into the State Government budget situation".
CEO Andrew Campbell, Shire President Paul Omodei and Deputy Shire President Dean Bavich met with the Hon. Alannah MacTiernan MLC, Minister for Agriculture and Food and Regional Development in Manjimup on 23 June 2017. At the meeting Minister MacTiernan indicated that some project funding would have to be handed back to the State Government to assist in countering a significant State Government budget deficit. It is understood that the State Government had the right under the existing Financial Assistance Agreement to take back all unspent funds from the Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre project if desired. At the time this could have equated to more than $12M of the $22.29M of the Royalties for Regions project total.
"The strategy applied by the Shire of Manjimup was to simply attempt to minimise the impact of funding removal by working with the State Government in a conciliatory manner to ensure that the project could continue to be delivered as close as possible to what was previously agreed. It was also considered very important to ensure Government relationships were established or maintained for the benefit of the Shire of Manjimup into the future", added Cr Omodei.
"Whilst the removal of $3M of project funding is disappointing it will not materially prevent the Shire of Manjimup from delivering the foundation of the Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre project", said Cr Omodei.
-ENDS-
Authorised by Andrew Campbell, Chief Executive Officer
Contact Sheri Laba, Public Relations Officer
Contact for comment: Paul Omodei, Shire President.
Contact: 0448 810 773