MEMBERS for Bendigo East and West Jacinta Allan and Maree Edwards are disappointed with the City of Greater Bendigo's provisional decision to withdraw from community care.
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Ms Edwards said many workers had contacted the pair to express their anxieties about the proposed change.
She said she and Ms Allan would prefer the council to retain the service, but the Department of Health and Human Services was making preparations should the council choose to forgo it.
"If the council is preparing to go down this path, and it would appear that's the way they're heading, then my preference would be for the replacement service to remain local," she said.
"We know that as soon as services like these are privatised, the contract often goes outside the Bendigo community and there's a decline in service.
"I am strongly against a company profiting from someone's disability or because someone is old," she said.
She said she would prefer a not-for-profit organisation delivered the service if council pulled out.
But while Ms Edwards said she had been reassured by Mr Foley there would be no state government cuts to the program, she could not say whether the government would compensate for money the council currently contributes.
At present, the government contributes $5.8 million to the program and the council contributes $1.32 million.
Mayor Peter Cox said no final decision had been made about the program.
He said changes to the disability sector at a state and federal level had influenced council's provisional decision.
“Councillors would welcome meeting with the pair to discuss future opportunities for Council to continue to deliver HACC services on behalf of the State Government.”
The Home and Community care program consists of a range of care services for people with disabilities and the elderly.
