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Indigo Council wants the Victorian government to hand over $4 million in funding every year to make up for cash and services which have been gradually taken away. The municipality is one of 38 cash-strapped local government areas banding together as part of Rural Councils Victoria to call for an annual $150 million “rural communities benefit fund”. The request formed part of a joint submission to the 2017-18 state budget, expected to be handed down in the first week of May. Indigo Mayor Jenny O’Connor said rural Victoria received little support from the government, despite its high contribution to the economy compared to city counterparts. “Already our communities spend more of their income on rates than people living in the city and regional Victoria for less services,” she said. “The state needs to step in and help us out because our families and their future generations deserve more. “Like Indigo, many rural councils are under increasing financial pressure to deliver more services with fewer resources. “Councils now fund some services that were once the province of the state and they have been passed to us without ongoing funding.” Indigo Council wanted $2m to improve roads, bridges, kerbs and culverts; $750,000 for pathway, park and streetscape maintenance; $750,000 for new Chiltern netball courts and $500,000 for renewal works on historic infrastructure. “Rural councils, in particular, have unique needs in the form of unsealed roads and weed management that our city counterparts don’t have to deal with,” Cr O’Connor said. “In Indigo’s case, we have ageing, historical buildings that need extra attention.” Rural Councils Victoria was meeting with the state government in the lead up to the budget to push its case. Indigo, Alpine, Moira, Benalla and Towong councils were all members of the group calling for the extra cash injection.

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