Editorial: CWA deserves shire's respectTHE Castlemaine Country Women’s Association branch is in danger of folding, after Mount Alexander Shire introduced new charges for its facilities.
The branch has been told it must pay more than $2500 if it wants to continue using the Ray Bradfield rooms for meetings and events.
Castlemaine CWA president Allison Nye said the group only made about $500 each year and the bill was out of its reach.
“We’re all a bit disgusted,” she said.
“It’s outrageous really.
“We’ve never been charged for the room before and now they want us to pay $2777.50 for the year.
“Every dollar we get is what we actually have to earn so it’s up to us to either cook a lot of scones or, I don’t know, maybe do nude calendars for the next 15 years.
“It’s looking pretty impossible at this stage.”
The Mount Alexander Shire yesterday defended the new charges and said hire fees were used to cover the costs of maintaining the room and equipment, including cleaning, electricity, gas and general maintenance.
Director of corporate support Lucy Roffey said council introduced a discounted community facility hire rate in 2009-10 and discontinued the previous fee waiver policy.
“To financially support community groups with events and activities, the community grants program was expanded,” she said.
“In 2011-12 council approved grant funding of $135,899 to 63 community groups across the shire.
“The CWA had enjoyed a significantly discounted hire rate of the Ray Bradfield rooms for a number of years.
“The CWA’s requested use of the Ray Bradfield rooms had increased from 37 hours in 2008 to 182 hours in 2011, reducing the availability for other community groups.
“As part of the implementation of the community facility hire rate and to ensure equity with other community groups, the CWA were advised that in 2012 the community rate would apply to their use of the Ray Bradfield rooms.”
The Castlemaine CWA membership fluctuates between 10 and 20 and the women use the Ray Bradfield rooms about three or four times a month. Ms Nye said the group first got wind of the new charges late last year.
“We had some round-table discussions with council about some other issues and this came up. They said everyone who use their buildings would be made to pay and there would be no favourites,” she said.
“We thought it might be $5 or something but then we received a letter with the charges, $2777.50. We haven’t got that amount of money and we don’t feel we even have the energy to raise those sorts of funds.
“We may as well not exist.”
Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards met members of the Castlemaine CWA late last week. “The Ray Bradfield rooms are known as the CWA rooms and the plaque on the wall outside, as well as the plaque on the inside, clearly says that these rooms are for the use of the CWA in perpetuity for as long as they continue to meet,’’ she said.
“The shire needs to explain why the CWA has now been slugged for this enormous bill when they have never been charged for the use of the Ray Bradfield room before.’’ Ms Edwards described the new charges as unjustified and devastating for the CWA.
“These women are not just about scones, jam and cream – they work hard. But they don’t make a massive amount of money and these charges are beyond their capacity.”
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