Geraldton council finds more cash to fund sports projects

More money has been found to support three Geraldton sporting clubs which had applied for council grants, meaning none will miss out.

The Geraldton pistol, clay target and golf clubs will share in $180,000 from the City of Greater Geraldton’s Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund grants.

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The funding will support a third of the cost of each organisation’s proposed building projects, with another third understood to progress to a further approval process by the State Government and the rest to be supplied by the groups themselves.

The City budgeted $100,000 to support CSRFF small grant applications for projects in the 2021-22 financial year, ranking the pistol club’s application for $10,150 to construct a chain mesh fence perimeter on its shooting range and the clay target club’s bid for $68,953 to demolish existing facilities to build a new club room and storage, above the golf club’s proposal.

Although it recommended not to approve the golf club’s application for $99,000 to build a new storage shed, it noted there had been savings from previous years’ budgets due to a combination of CSRFF applications not being successful at the State evaluation process and a lack of submissions.

The 2020-21 CSRFF budget was $66,727, while expenditure was $14,921, the 2019-20 budget was $100,000 but expenditure was only $42,305, and the 2018-19 budget was $100,000 ,with just $66,519 spent.

While Cr Victor Tanti and Cr Tarleah Thomas spoke for the motion to not approve the golf club’s application, saying there was not enough funding available to support this project, Cr Jerry Clune said he wanted to move an alternate motion.

“The last three years we haven’t even come close to meeting our budget with these applications, we’re well short of them,” he said.

“If we can rearrange it however which way we want to so if they are all a success ... then surely we can shift things around a little bit to make it. They do form a very important part of our fabric, the sporting clubs, and I note this one is self-supporting in its own.

“It hardly ever leans on the City to do anything for them.

“It is a lottery, so there is no guarantee they are going to get it, but all we would be doing is pushing them on a little bit further to the next step, at this stage.”

If we can rearrange it however which way we want to so if they are all a success . . . then surely we can shift things around a little bit to make it.

The motion for the original application was defeated seven votes to five, while the alternate motion passed 12 to zero and the two other projects were also carried unanimously.

City chief executive Ross McKim said the City would amend its budget to reflect the new total spend, which would “slightly” increase the deficit.