Hefty tree fee

A fee of $530.40 charged by Baw Baw Shire Council to a Warragul resident for the replacement of a tree removed from the property's nature strip has been questioned.

Developers originally planted a street tree (a Carpinus betulus) in front of the property, which was later removed by the owners for the purpose of putting in a second driveway.

Council reportedly would not allow the permit for the driveway until the owners paid for a replacement tree, in accordance with council's tree management plan.

Council prefer street trees to be planted from 45 litre pots; and a replacement tree of the same species, from a 40 litre pot sourced from 'Online Plants' is valued at $325.00.

Friend of the property owners, Irene Broadbent questioned the cost of the tree replacement at the May council meeting.

"Staff are already employed so why is there an extra charge for doing that?" she asked.

A council officer explained "if it was replacement of the entire tree, we would have purchased and replanted the entire tree and charged that rate again."

"And can I offer that the staff will have been redirected from some work to that work, so it's still an expense," added mayor Kate Wilson.

However, Ms Broadbent was not satisfied with the explanation and requested at the June council meeting to be provided with a line by line cost of each item required to replace the tree.

Council responded in writing, stating:
"Council does not record the officer hours spent inspecting damaged street trees, organising replacement trees, the labour of removing and replanting trees or ongoing maintenance such as mulching, re-staking and watering to ensure maturity."
Ms Broadbent followed up with a verbal question during the meeting.
"How do you produce an invoice if you haven't got all those details?"
"I would like to know each and every item, because last month you said staking was included - well there's not a stake in any of the trees in that street and there never has been according to the people that live there. I do think that it's only fair that if you do send an invoice to a person, it should be line by line with each item listed for what the cost is."
Council has taken the question on notice.