Mayoral Column 23 July 2018
Published on 23 July 2018
Activating open spaces survey extended
You may recall in May this year I wrote about Council wanting to hear your thoughts, via a survey, about the use of public open spaces for recreation around Loddon Shire.
To ensure it hears from as many people as possible, Council has now extended the deadline for the Activating Open Spaces community survey to Friday 17 August.
Council wants to hear about what local places you use for recreation and physical activity and how they can be improved so more people use them more often. These might include parks, playgrounds, bushland, cycling and walking paths, rivers and lakes, and shopping areas/streets.
Your responses will help Council in how it can develop its open spaces to make them more usable.
The survey can be found online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/activeloddon or hard copies are available at the Shire offices in Wedderburn and Serpentine.
For more information contact Carmel Pethick at Council on 5494 1253.
Dingee seniors writing workshops with Lorraine Marwood
In some exciting news – particularly for our seniors, award-winning author (and former Loddon Shire local) Lorraine Marwood will be coming to the Dingee Library Agency for a series of writing workshops for seniors.
Three stimulating workshops will held (each of which will build on the other) to produce a special piece of writing based on your early life. This will be compiled into a collaborative book for the Loddon community.
The workshops will run at the Dingee Library Agency from 10am to 12pm on Wednesday 29 August, Wednesday 12 September and Wednesday 19 September. A light lunch will be included.
Please contact Liz Plumridge at Goldfields Libraries if you would like to take part on 5449 2789 or email lizp@ncgrl.vic.gov.au.
Only 15 inspired seniors will be able to take part in the workshops – so make sure you don’t miss this great opportunity.
Payroll tax cuts good news for regional businesses
In what will be some great news to many businesses in the Loddon Shire, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has secured payroll tax cuts for regionally-based businesses.
The payroll tax cuts, which came into effect on 1 July this year, will see the payroll tax rate fall to 2.425 per cent for employers based in regional Victoria who pay at least 85 per cent of their Victorian taxable wages to regional employees. The payroll tax threshold lifts to $650,000.
According to the Victorian Chamber, this will deliver savings of more than $25,000 to regionally-based business with 20 full time employees (and much more for larger sized businesses). Many small businesses will no longer pay payroll tax at all.
Thanks to the Victorian Chamber’s advocacy on behalf of local governments and other members, this will mean regional areas in Victoria will have the lowest payroll tax rate in Australia. The changes also make regional areas such as Loddon Shire an attractive prospect for new investment and job creation, and help existing businesses remain viable and grow.
2018 Victorian Rural Women’s Forum
Registrations are now open for the 2018 Victorian Rural Women’s Forum. The forum will be held from mid-morning Thursday 2 August to mid-afternoon Friday 3 August at the RACV Goldfields Resort in Creswick.
The forum will include keynote addresses from Sallie Jones of Gippsland Jersey and truffle farmers Henry and Anna Terry from My Kitchen Rules. There will also be four training workshops on leadership, wellbeing, social media and financial literacy.
The event will also include structured and unstructured networking and mentoring opportunities, and a three-course gala dinner.
Registration is free; however numbers are strictly limited, with places allocated on a ‘first in’ basis.
To find out more and to register visit http://extensionaus.com.au/VRWNetwork/
Kingower Brenanah bridge works
Major rehabilitation works to the Kingower Brenanah bridge at Kingower are starting this week. The works include the replacement of bearers and the bridge’s running deck, as well as termite treatment.
To allow these major works to take place, the bridge will be closed to through traffic from Monday 23 July 2018. It is expected that the works will take four weeks to complete.
Council appreciates your patience while these works are ongoing, and will advise of any further changes through its Facebook page.