Port Stephens Council approves rent free period for Port Stephens Koalas

Port Stephens Council last week resolved to waive all rent for Port Stephens Koalas (PSK), which occupies a villa at the Treescape holiday park at One Mile.

The site is the subject of plans for the hospital and education centre that will pay the rent once built.

“It’s the result we had hoped for and we are very grateful but we should be mindful that Port Stephens Council and Hunter Water are the only ones doing the heavy lifting while we wait on the state government,” PSK secretary Ron Land said. “There’s still a thundering silence from the state government even though we applied for funds to build this facility all the way back in 2017 and it’s very hard for us to plan anything while this remains the case.”

The not-for-profit organisation has relied on donations to fund its rescue and care activities and depended on the council for support to progress its plans for the facility. This included $64,000 for a feasibility study.

A development application is expected to be lodged by the end of April.

In the meantime PSK must base a care coordinator at Treescape for licencing reasons. Even at a discounted rate it has has cost PSK $8050 so far to rent the villa.

Council staff produced a report to assist councillors in their consideration of a rent break for the rest of 2018. For the year to date Treescape has earned $413,615 with outgoings of $387,338 for a profit of $26,277. The rent break stands to push earnings into the red.

“Any adjustment to the budget will negatively impact on the bottom line,” the council’s corporate services group manager Carmel Foster noted in the report.

Cr John Nell, with the support of councillors Sarah Smith, Glen Dunkley, Jaimie Abbott and Chris Doohan, were all in favour of the rent holiday.

“Seeing as we’re asking the state government for $3 million I don’t think we should be quibbling over $30,000,” Cr Nell said.