THE total figure Wodonga Council has slugged ratepayers for its controversial waste management levy since its introduction in 2002 will be close to $25 million by the end of the present financial year.
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The 2002 introduction of the levy was confirmed in a letter co-signed by mayor Anna Speedie and chief executive Patience Harrington sent to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews late last week.
The Ombudsman Deborah Glass only studied the 10-year period from 2006-07 and didn’t include the years from its introduction.
An investigation by the Ombudsman started in 2016-17 and the report handed down last week didn’t include the cash collected in that financial year with the present financial year also to be calculated shortly.
A surplus has been achieved each year during the study period with $2.4 million being the best result in 2015-16 and $1.1 million being the smallest surplus in 2010-11.
Council chief executive Patience Harrington declined to reveal the 2016-17 result or those in the early life of the waste management charge.
“Information regarding the waste management charges can be found in the annual budget documents,” she said.
The waste management charge was introduced when Peter Marshall was chief executive.
Ms Harrington was promoted from within to replace Gavin Cator in the role in 2012 and in late 2016 she was re-appointed for a further three years.
The damning Ombudsman report is the biggest controversy she has had to deal with since the infamous “cut and paste” report into a South Korea trip she and former mayor Lisa Mahood went on in 2014.
