Central Coast Council has announced that it is investing more than $1.7m this financial year in one of the Coast’s most iconic assets, Central Coast Stadium.
For many years, the stadium has not operated at anything like capacity.
It’s unknown whether the stadium operates as a positive revenue source or a loss to Council, and therefore a cost to ratepayers.
With Council recently expecting community groups to pay increased charges for use of community halls, tennis courts and other leased facilities, insisting on full cost recovery, I’d like an assurance from Central Coast Council that the same principles of full cost recovery are (or will be) applied to usage/leasing charges for the stadium.
Without such an assurance, Council appears to be exploiting its ratepayers and this ‘investment’ looks like an upgrade preparatory to a lease to a private sporting consortium.
Email, Jan 23
Kevin Armstrong, Tumbi Umbi