Minister labels levy fears unfounded

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has rubbished claims money raised from a politically contentious parking fee in Perth’s CBD will be spent on projects outside of the city's ambit.

Ms Saffioti yesterday flagged a host of changes to the Perth parking levy, which would include allowing the state government to charge differential rates and waive the levy under exceptional circumstances.

Most significant, though, was a proposal to expand use of the $190 million fund to encompass any project that is ruled as providing social or economic return to central Perth.

At present, money raised by the fund is earmarked solely for transport purposes within City of Perth, with tax receipts generally outpacing what is returned through spending.

Budget expectations are for the levy to raise $56 million this financial year.

Those proposals proved contentious in some quarters with Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas yesterday claiming they were made without consultation or input from the city.

Ms Saffioti disputed the lord mayor’s complaints when they were raised with her today.

She said any changes to the boundaries within which money can be spent would be minor and reflect legislative quirks, which meant upgrades to the Causeway Bridge could currently only be partially funded by the levy.

“We could only fund half of it through the Perth parking levy because it reached into land in Town of Victoria Park and the Perth parking boundary went through half the river,” Ms Saffioti said.

“Let’s say the CAT bus to UWA. We had to keep changing the boundaries every time we wanted to have a service that might go outside the Perth parking area. Every time you change the boundary, [tenants are] liable to pay the levy, so it becomes very tricky.

“What we’re saying is, where there’s an interconnected service or interconnected infrastructure we shouldn’t have to change the boundary, we should by agreement be able to fund it.”

Tensions between the city and state government have been on display for months, with Ms Saffioti having stepped in to overrule council’s decision late last year to block relocation of a homeless services drop-in centre in Northbridge.

Mr Zempilas has downplayed the dispute, refusing to say whether yesterday’s announcement was part of a broader pattern of a dysfunctional relationship.

Ms Saffioti was similarly reserved when asked about the optics of yesterday’s announcement, arguing she couldn’t be held responsible for the lord mayor’s claims and that she would remain fixed on working out the finer points of the state government’s proposal.

“What we outlined were some changes to the current Act, the Act that’s been in place since 1999,” she said.

“We proposed some changes, I want to sit down.

"If people don’t want to sit down and talk through the detail, that’s their decision, but making outrageous claims … I don’t think does his cause or the City of Perth’s cause any benefit.”

Liberal Party of WA leader Libby Mettam joined the fray this afternoon, arguing the proposed changes had been introduced to distract from the imminent release of an auditor general's report into the parking levy's administration.

Ms Saffioti disputed that assertion when it was put to her yesterday.