Council sympathises with Brassall Carols organisers after event postponement

01 November 2018

Ipswich City Council joins with the organisers of the Brassall Christmas in the Park 2018 to express its disappointment that the event will not proceed this year.

Council has been a significant supporter of this event for many years and acknowledges the hard work put in by the organisers, volunteers and performers.

Interim Administrator Greg Chemello said council assessed the funding submission provided by the organisers seeking financial assistance under the recently-established Community Grants Program and at the 23 October 2018 council meeting approved funding of $17,673 towards the Brassall Christmas in the Park 2018 event.

Council met with an organisers’ representative after they had expressed concern about the level of funding offered under the program.

“It was determined that the organisers hadn’t included all costs in their proposed budget. In other words, Ipswich ratepayers were apparently previously paying for items which had not been included in the grant submission,” Mr Chemello said.

Council offered to partner with the organisers under a Partnership Agreement, including a larger funding commitment by council, but this offer was declined by the organisers.

“Events such as Brassall Christmas in the Park are important community events, and it is a core role of local governments to provide funding to boost the resources and capacity of community organisations to deliver effective community events,” Mr Chemello said.

“However, the days of ratepayers’ money being handed out willy-nilly with no transparent consideration of value for money and no public accountability of this spend to the citizens are over for Ipswich.”

Mr Chemello shared the organisers’ disappointment at not being in a position to establish an appropriate event budget on which council could transparently assess the extent of ratepayers’ financial contribution towards the event.

“Previous Brassall carol events appear to have been funded through various council budget allocations including divisional councillor allocation, community grants, donations and various in-kind contributions of council services and equipment not charged for,” Mr Chemello said.

“At this stage, I am unable to advise the community exactly how much ratepayer funding went into these events.  This is currently being investigated.”

Mr Chemello indicated that there had also been significant changes in the membership of the organising committee which may have also contributed to a lack of clarity regarding the preparation of an event budget and awareness of council processes in respect to funding and support.

He confirmed council is very keen to work with organisers so the event can continue in future years, with clarity and transparency for the Ipswich community on the exact extent of sponsorship and financial support to be contributed by council.

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