Date Time
Last days for budget ideas and cost-saving submissions
Greater Geelong residents have until Monday 1 February to have their say on possible cost savings and where Budget investment should be directed ahead of the development of Council’s 2021-22 Budget.
In response to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Council delivered an estimated $16.9 million worth of much-needed ongoing relief and recovery assistance to the community in the form of grants, rent and fee waivers, free parking and many other initiatives.
Disruption to City facilities and services, along with the major support packages delivered by Council, has significantly contributed to a 2020-21 forecast deficit of $33.4 million.
Date Time
Bottle Tree undergoes repair
The Geelong Botanic Gardens largest bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) is being repaired after high winds caused it to be split down the middle.
Decay within the trunk, possibly caused by rot set in a smaller split, caused the bottle tree to become vulnerable to high winds and storm conditions.
City Works, Parks and Gardens chair Cr Anthony Aitken said this is a clever approach to preserving a significant feature of the gardens.
We will all be eagerly awaiting the outcome of this operation,
I hope the repair is successful and this beautiful specimen is saved.
Date Time
Grant to help fund new koala habitat
A community-driven planting program will aid the long-term survival of the local koala population by creating an indigenous tree corridor linking the You Yangs to Little River.
The project, conceived and led by not-for-profit organisation the Koala Clancy Foundation, will be part-funded by the City of Greater Geelong via a $9000 Environmental Sustainability grant.
With the help of volunteers, the foundation plans to plant more than 3000 grassy woodland trees and shrubs along a corridor of privately owned farmland near Little River.
Koala Clancy Foundation president Janine Duffy said the new woodland would help koalas move into fertile, moisture-rich tree areas along the river in times of heat stress such as drought or bushfire.