Ratepayers in the City of Perth will be forced to pay high rates as a result of the State Government’s decision to seize an East Perth car park slated for a future inner city primary school, Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas has claimed.
In a letter responding to the State Government’s declaration on Tuesday it was seize the Queens Gardens car park and use two-thirds of it to build a new East Perth primary school, Mr Zempilas pleaded with Labor to reconsider its decision.
Mr Zempilas — the Liberal candidate for Churchlands and an employee of Seven West Media — accused the State Government in the letter of premeditating the seizure move while negotiations were still ongoing.
“This action to legislate to acquire the City’s freehold land without any compensation sets a dangerous precedent in Western Australian by totally disregarding the normal principles of compulsory land acquisition under the Land Administration Act where compensation is expected,” he wrote.
“We are now in unprecedented territory in regards to eroding the certainty and expectations of freehold property ownership. Please reconsider.
“We estimate that the lost revenue from the carparking will lead to a rates increase to the City’s ratepayers of approximately 1.2 per cent to 1.3 per cent.
“The City will effectively be contributing in perpetuity to the cost of this public school without any compensation.”
In his letter, Mr Zempilas references options presented to the Education Department — all of which were rejected.
During negotiations, the City proposed a $41 million sale of the land, the establishment of a dedicated fund for Perth-based projects, a land swap or a peppercorn lease for State-owned car parks.
The stoush over the site for the badly needed new school escalated on Tuesday, when Education Minister Tony Buti and Lands Minister John Carey announced the Government would introduce a bill to repurpose the land.
Laws restricted the use of the land as a carpark, to support office and hotel accommodation, which is no longer needed.
The Government has proposed a payment of $4.2 million in forgone car park revenue, which Dr Buti said was fair.
“The City of Perth doesn’t hold it for private holds it for a public purpose,” he said.
“We are not building Club Med here. We’re building an inner city primary school that the city has long advocated for, and we’re building a state-of-the-art primary school, which will be the biggest single investment in any primary school or any education facility in Western Australia.”
Mr Carey said the Government had taken a “fair and considered approach”.
“We’ve just seen pure politics. We’ve seen a change. We’ve now seen the Liberal candidate for Churchlands, he’s made it very clear that he wants to take a combative approach,” he said.