At each meeting of Hume City Council, members of the public can submit written questions for council staff to answer. Approved questions are answered by council staff who read carefully prepared statements. Here are the questions and answers for Monday 28 April 2025.
The meeting video is at bottom of this page.
Q: Last meeting l asked what were the ‘significant costs‘ Cllr [Jarrod] Bell was referring to in his Facebook post dated 11th April for the volunteer run Sunbury Visitor Information Centre including the cost / membership fee HCC are paying for the ‘i’ symbol.
The answer from the Director City Planning and Places did not disclose this. Can you please advise the ‘significant cost’?
RESPONSE: Director City Planning & Places: Whilst there are costs associated with delivery of any service provided by Council, that is not
the focus of Councils intent to transition from in-person service delivery for visitor information in Sunbury to online information, such as @discoverhume on Instagram.
The annual fee for Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) membership is $585.00. However, a minimum requirement to maintain accreditation per VTIC is also to have a minimum of one paid full time person to operate an Accredited Hub VIC i.e. an accredited Hub VIC may not be Volunteer led and run alone.
Additional costs include maintenance of visitor material, training costs, uniform costs and site maintenance costs. Council’s approach is consistent with industry trends across Victoria and follows a broad external review of current services, which identified that more people are accessing visitor information online than in-person and the majority of enquires at the Sunbury VIC are not visitor related.
Using this to understand how Council can best service the community moving forward, it is intended to wind down the Sunbury Visitor Information Centre.
Council will work closely with the current staff and volunteers of the Visitor Information Centre to provide support throughout this transition, including connecting staff to relevant job opportunities that suit their skills and experience, and exploring opportunities for volunteers to take up other volunteer roles within Hume City Council.
Q: Over the past 12 months how many times has the indoor 25m pool at SALC had an unscheduled closure within regular operating hours? Over the past 12 months how many hours of unscheduled closures has the indoor pool at SALC had?
RESPONSE: Director City Services & Living: Thank you for your question. The 25m Indoor pool at Sunbury has closed 38 times for a total of 167 hours over the past twelve months.
27 out of the 38 times were due to accidental hygiene-related incidents. There were 5 closures due to external power outages, 3 due to mechanical or equipment failures, and 3 instances related to medical emergencies involving pool users.
Unfortunately, these are common across all public pool operations, and the number of closures at Sunbury Aquatic and Leisure Centre is comparable to those experienced at other Council facilities, such as SPLASH, which had 49 unplanned closures, and Broadmeadows Aquatic and Leisure Centre which experienced 26 closures over the same period. At the other sites, these closures were predominantly due to accidental hygiene incidents and medical emergencies involving pool users.
Hume City Council remains committed to improving services and reducing the impact of service closures on the community. We have introduced initiatives such as handing out free aqua nappies and improved communications around Healthy Swimming Habits to reduce the frequency of accidental hygiene-related incidents. The health and safety of our attendees remains our key priority.
Q: Previously Councillors promised to implement free skip bins for every household at the 2016 election. What is the status of that promise?
RESPONSE: Director Infrastructure & Assets: At the 24 March 2025 Council Meeting Council resolved to not proceed with a public skip bin program due to the risks and costs associated with such a service.
However, Hume City Council is proud to offer one of the most comprehensive waste management programs in Victoria, providing a variety of flexible disposal options for our residents. Each household, including renters, receives five waste vouchers annually.
These vouchers allow for the disposal of up to 10 cubic meters of waste through at-home hard waste collections, bundled branch collections, or by dropping off items at our Resource Recovery Centres.
In addition, we host quarterly Hume Clean Days at our two Resource Recovery Centres. During the first weekend of each season, residents can drop off up to 15 items.
Q: I’ve recently moved to the area and noticed that Raven Hill Boulevard, which seems to be a fairly major throughfare, does not have any indented parking bays. Meanwhile, several smaller side roads nearby do have indented parking. I’m curious why this is the case and was there a specific planning reason behind it? It just keeps me wondering, especially given the traffic volume on Raven Hill Boulevard.
RESPONSE: Director Infrastructure & Assets: Council constructed indented parking bays on the section of Ravenhill Boulevard between
Roxburgh Park Drive and Whiltshire Drive in 2013, in response to the Roxburgh Park West Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) study in 2012.
This section carries significantly more traffic than the rest of Ravenhill Boulevard and was identified as requiring two lanes of unobstructed traffic. It also has higher parking demand due to the townhouse-style dwellings on the western side.
Ravenhill Boulevard between Whiltshire Drive and Somerton Road is wide enough for cars to park on both sides of the street and leave enough space for one vehicle to pass, which is appropriate given the traffic volume is below 3,000 vehicles per day on the busiest section.
In other smaller side streets where indented parking was provided, it was done because the streets were not wide enough to allow for parking on both sides. In line with Council’s Parking on Narrow Streets Policy, the demand for parking in streets such as Reynolds Court exceeded the supply available on one side.
Therefore, indented bays were constructed to enable parking on both sides with space for one vehicle to pass between, which is equivalent to Ravenhill Boulevard.
Q: What was the total cost of Council’s May 2019 Belt and Road-related trip to China, including expenses? Please outline expenses occurred that were specifically attributable to the Mayor at the time.
RESPONSE: Chief Financial Officer: The 2019 Council delegation to China involved one staff member, and two Councillors, travelling for 9 days. The total cost of the trip was $9,290.25 with expenses being published on Council’s travel register and website.
A delegates report summarising the trip outcomes was presented to Council on 8 July 2019. Expenses attributed to the Mayor at that time were as follows:
- Flights $2,284.83
- Accommodation $558
- Other $248
Q: One of our elected councillors are running for federal seat of Calwell in upcoming federal elections.
My question is, if they are elected at federal level, which will result in a by-election for the ward, who will be footing the election bill?
For example, would that money for by-election come out of the council budget? If not, please clarify for the community.
RESPONSE: Chief Financial Officer: Local Government elections are run by the Victorian Electoral Commission who then invoices Council for the associated costs. A by-election would be paid for by Hume City Council.
Q: How much revenue does Council expect to receive from the new waste levy?
RESPONSE: Chief Financial Officer: For the 2024/25 Financial Year the revenue expected to be received from the recovery of waste costs is $61.41m as follows: $35.95m from Kerbside waste management; and $25.46m from Public waste service rates and charges.
The 2025/26 budget is still being developed, however the approximate amount expected to be recovered is $65.59m as follows:
- $38.24m from Kerbside waste management; and
- $27.35m from Public waste service rates and charges.
It is important to note that the waste charge only achieves cost recovery and does not generate a surplus or profit for Council.
Q: What, if any, representations has Council made with respect to the re-location of the fire station to a site adjacent to Craigieburn Community Hospital?
RESPONSE: Director Customer and Strategy: Thank you for your question.
In 2018 the Victorian Government announced that a new $13 million integrated fire station will be built in Craigieburn. Planning work was instigated by the Victorian Government to find the most appropriate site.
Council was engaged as part of this planning work as a potential site that was identified is owned by Council.
Through the Victorian Government’s planning it identified that the new station will be built at 99-107 Lygon Drive Craigieburn. Council’s engagement did not refer to 99-107 Lygon Drive as it is not owned by Council.
Council has not made any representation regarding the re-location of the fire station at 99-107 Lygon Drive Craigieburn.
Q: : How much have rates risen since the October 2016 Council election? Please specify how much more each ratepayer is paying on average.
RESPONSE: Chief Financial Officer: Rates are charged based on the valuation of the property. The average property in Hume has increased in value by 66% since the October 2016 Council elections.
The average residential property in 2016/17 was valued at approximately $365,000 and rates payable on that valuation were:
Council Rates: $1,551.70
The average residential property in 2024/25 is valued at $605,000. Rates payable on this valuation are:
- Council Rates: $1,408.70
- Kerbside Waste Charge: $401.63
- Public Waste Charge: $222.99
- For a total of $2,033.32
Q: The inflatable is out of action at the Sunbury Aquatic and Leisure Centre and has been for at least 12 months.
Please provide a detailed explanation for the delay in repairing or replacing the inflatable at Sunbury Aquatic and Leisure Centre, including the associated costs and budget allocation?
What is the confirmed timeline for the inflatable’s repair or replacement?
RESPONSE: Director City Services & Living: The inflatable at the Sunbury Aquatic and Leisure Centre was decommissioned following an external audit that identified it did not meet safety standards and we were legally unable to use it.
It was determined it could not be repaired or updated to make it meet current standards and was required to be completely replaced.
Costs for replacement were referred to the 24/25capital works budget and the inflatable for Sunbury has been delivered.
And Staff are currently undertaking all the necessary steps to ensure its safe use. Once this is completed, it will be for activated for the community to use on event days, special bookings and for the next school holidays.
Q: Ever since Sunbury got lumped into Hume Council after amalgamation, it feels like we’ve been missing out.
When we had our own council, Sunbury seemed to get a fairer share of funding. Now, it feels like other areas get looked after first, and Sunbury gets left behind. A lot of locals are feeling frustrated, and it’d be good to see the facts laid out properly.
I want to know how much money has been spent in each suburb across Hume in the last year (2023/24 or 24/25) through the suburban works or building programs what percentage of this program did each suburb get from the total suburban program?
RESPONSE: Chief Financial Officer: The below table outlines the amount of capital works spent in each Suburb of Hume for 2023/24.
Please note the amount included within Citywide which is $44.57m includes amounts spent across all Suburbs of Hume on annual programs such as footpaths and the road resealing program.
Q: What is the current population of each suburb in Hume and what percentage of the total Hume population does each suburb make up?
RESPONSE: Director Customer and Strategy: Suburb population data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Data is not collected by suburb boundary, but rather by Statistical Area 2 boundaries.
This creates some limitations to the data as some SA2 areas are a made up of several suburbs, and some suburbs area made up of several SA2 areas.
Below are the population numbers and % population figures based on SA2 areas.
With the data for the Sunbury area and surrounds, it is noted that most of the population will be residing in the urban area of Sunbury.
