Analysis by the Property Council found the 73 per cent increase proposed by the state government would result in an extra cost of as much as $1,386 per spot to be passed on to motorists.<\/p>\n
However, think tank the Grattan Institute has backed increases to the CBD\u2019s parking levy as a way to curb traffic, as well as initiatives including charging inner-city drivers during peak hours and discounting off-peak commutes on public transport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we haven\u2019t seen is any modelling or any evidence from the state government about how this is leading to a reduction in congestion,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThis is not about congestion. This is about revenue raising.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the congestion levy had been introduced, it had increased by more than 600 per cent, but the council receives a fixed sum of $7 million a year from it, an amount which has not increased since the levy was introduced almost 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
Reece backed the motion alongside a majority of councillors and said the increase would put the City of Melbourne at a disadvantage compared to suburban shopping centres like Chadstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the wrong time for a tax increase on Melbourne,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the wrong time for a new tax on parts of the inner city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillor Owen Guest said it should not be up to the City of Melbourne or any other council to make up the state government\u2019s budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the state government has done to Victoria\u2019s budget will go down in the annals of shame,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The City of Melbourne is increasingly at loggerheads with the Allan government, even though Reece is a Labor party member.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks the council has opposed the government\u2019s work-from-home policy and has criticised how the government is dealing with crime in the CBD.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
Labor councillor Davydd Griffiths and Greens councillor Olivia Ball were the only ones who voted against Campbell\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n
Griffiths said it was ironic that the council debate was being held less than a fortnight before the Metro Tunnel was set to open, which is expected to enable an additional 500,000 people to come into the city every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of the rhetoric that we\u2019ve heard tonight is about taking the opportunity to stick the boot into the state government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysis by the Property Council found the 73 per cent increase proposed by the state government would result…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":371893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-371892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115531996634101046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}