Mayor defends deferring aquatic facility planning

Planning for the facility is currently on hold following a Council decision to defer pursuing preliminary design tenders for aquatics at LJSC until alternative sources of funding become available.

Cr Mack said the rate variation would be required to enable Council to pay as much as $6.6 million a year in loan repayments over a 20-year period, even if a grant of $40 million could be secured for the project.

“As a Council, we felt that would be unpalatable to most ratepayers, especially at a time when households across our whole community are continuing to experience financial pressure,” he said.

“We believe the prudent thing to do at this point is to defer spending $1 million to design something that, in reality, is beyond our current financial means to deliver.

“Importantly, that investment only covers the preliminary design phase for aquatics; the subsequent detailed design phase typically represents around 5-10% of the construction cost, which in this case would be up to $12 million.

“We can’t justify spending that amount of ratepayers’ money on design with no guarantee of securing government funding beyond that to actually build the facility.”

The aquatic facility forms part of Stage 2 of the redevelopment of the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre, accounting for around $120 million of the total cost of $151 million.

The detailed cost estimates for the project, which form part of the Feasibility and Business Case, were undertaken by Turner & Townsend who were named Quantity Surveying Team of the Year at the 2023 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Australia Awards.

“We understand that there are a lot of passionate people in the community who want this facility to be built, but as Councillors, it’s important for us to look at the bigger picture and to be financially responsible,” Cr Mack said.

“The reality is that we are already carrying a $20 million deficit, and we are examining all our services and programs to identify savings to reduce the shortfall, while still delivering the services all our community needs and without significantly increasing rates.

“We simply can’t justify the cost of this aquatic facility and the associated rate variations that would need to accompany it.”

Preliminary design for the remainder of planned upgrades at the LJSC will continue to be progressed at a cost of $500,000 as per the Stage 2 Masterplan adopted by Council in July 2024. This will include additional multipurpose courts, a major show court and a new foyer, cafe and corporate facilities.

“By undertaking this work in accordance with the adopted Masterplan, we will ensure the opportunity for the future addition of a regional aquatic facility is maintained,” Cr Mack said.

Stage 1 of the LJSC redevelopment, worth $15.2 million, is underway. When complete, it will deliver new playing surfaces and compliant courts, additional changerooms, family rooms, function space and increased show court seating capacity.

Cr Mack said it was important to focus on the upgrade of the Lavington Swim Centre as the priority for enhancing Albury’s aquatic options, with concept designs and community consultation outcomes expected to be presented to Council in March 2025.