By Tanya Steele
A recent Council meeting on Tuesday 22 August saw a resident raise concerns over the costs to Yarra Ranges ratepayers for the entire process involved with the Warburton Tree.
Tony Stevenson said he wanted to know as a ratepayer the breakdown of costs associated with the Warburton Tree.
“Could the council break down the significant expenditure of the tree matter 3457…first in the category of tree safety work including arborists, reports and tree surgery to reduce risk to the public and secondly, all other costs incurred,” he said.
Built Environment and Infrastructure director Hjalmar Philipp responded and itemised the costs into the following categories.
Treeworks, $76,495, Security chain and padlocks, $5,091, Traffic Management, $4,000, Fencing, $12,000, Security, $380,000 which came to a total of $477,586.
“All these costs related to measures taken as part of the council’s obligations under the OHS act to address the known and very serious risks arising from the Warburton tree,” he said.
“All these cost components were significantly increased as a result of delays to undertake the necessary safety work and an insurance claim is being pursued in relation to these costs.”
Mr Stevenson then asked the council to clarify the significant expenditure for a single tree in a single town.
“Please explain why the roughly 98 per cent of ratepayers who don’t live in Warburton will be bearing most of the cost,” he said.
Mr Phillipp said costs associated with the Warburton Tree were not forecast in the 2022/23 operating budgets and therefore came out of the council’s consolidated budget,
“This isn’t built up on a geographic basis and all ratepayers contribute to it,” he said.
Unplanned costs have impacted the hip pockets of Yarra Ranges residents in this issue and had the Council completed tree works as planned in March 2023 most of the costs that accumulated as a result of protests would not have occurred.
Mr Stevenson was contacted by the council on 24 August via email to confirm his question and response from the meeting.
