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ROAD safety and population growth were among the topics that sparked discussions among leaders of the state’s 10 largest regional cities.
Premier Daniel Andrews and opposition leader Matthew Guy were among the guest speakers at Regional Cities Victoria’s annual forum on Friday, along with VicRoads chief executive officer John Merritt.
Bendigo mayor Margaret O’Rourke said she found the day to be “really beneficial”.
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She said it provided her with opportunities to better understand the issues facing the state and other regional cities, and to raise general questions of the speakers.
The mayor said the City of Greater Bendigo – one of the 10 regional cities involved in the advocacy group – had been advocating for improvements to road safety, including boosting investment in road maintenance.
Cr O’Rourke said the cities represented were also keenly interested to learn how Victoria’s population growth was likely to benefit the regions.
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The meeting coincided with the announcement of $100,000 in state government support for RCV to develop a business case for a proposed treasury shared services finance model.
RCV believes the model could save councils more than $5 million in interest rates each year by pooling their resources to access wholesale investor markets.
“We’re pretty excited,” Cr O’Rourke said.
However, she said it remained to be seen whether there was any benefit in pursuing the idea.
Cr O’Rourke expected the feasibility study would be complete by early 2018.
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RCV chair Anna Speedie said the research the group had done to date indicated the model would save councils millions.
“These savings will be used to fund the things that ratepayers want from their councils: better infrastructure and improved services that address local priorities,” she said.
She welcomed the government’s investment in developing the business case.
“Regional councils want to be more self-sustainable, and we expect the business case will show this model will help us achieve our goal.”