Council
1 October, 2025
Shire commits to road resealing
CORANGAMITE Shire Council have approved the addition of $40,000 to the annual road resealing budget for 2025-2026, in what one councillor labelled as a bid to not follow in the footsteps of the State Government.
Working with Warrnambool City Council, Corangamite Shire takes on a collaborative approach to maintaining its 919 kilometres of local roads.
As part of council’s resealing program this year, they are expected to cover 66 kilometres of roads – approximately 7.2 per cent of the sealed road network.
Council undertook a competitive tender process to recruit a suitably qualified and experienced contractor to undertake the resealing works.
The lowest price submission came from Inroads for a total figure of $2,273,857.27 plus GST.
The current available budget for the sealing works in Corangamite Shire this financial year is $2,147,500.
Based on the tender price from Inroads, the cost to complete the Corangamite Shire component of the 2025-2026 sealing contract, including $70,000 of provisional items, is $2,186,836.58 which is $39,336.58 over the allocated budget.
Councillor Jo Beard moved the motion and said Inroads were a reliable contractor council had used in the past.
“Inroads have been our contractor over multiple years now, not only the last two-year period but we’ve had them for multiple contracts, aligned with Warrnambool as well, so they’re pretty well trusted and seem to get the work done,” she said.
“What’s interesting is in the report it actually mentions that they’ve had minimal reworks which probably doesn’t mean a lot to our communities but it certainly means a lot to us because we’d certainly be hearing about it if it wasn’t good work.
“It’s fairly competitive, safe to say, so trusting certainly the evaluation process by the panel, they do put a lot of effort into going over those prices, so I really appreciate that work.”
Cr Beard said the additional $40,000 was a necessary cost in today’s economy, rather than pursue an option proposed by the report of cutting off a kilometre of road resealing to be brought up at a later time.
“I think it’d be stupid of us not to chip in that extra $40,000,” she said.
“I think the cost of doing business now, not only for local government but I think just in general, if we don’t do it now then we turn around and try and pick up that extra kilometre, if we try and pick it up next year we’re going to be up for a lot more than the $40,000 so I think it’d be silly of us not to take advantage of that now.
“The fact that we rely so heavily upon particularly through John Kelly’s (manager assets planning) team is the recommendation of the roads that they do through the asset management policy.
“We don’t want to fall behind on that – that’s one thing we’ve always prided ourselves on – I think as an organisation, is that we keep up with not only the capital works but more importantly the management of our assets through the maintenance program which is probably more than we can say from other levels of government, if I’m being completely honest.”
The motion was seconded by councillor Ruth Gstrein.
Councillor Nick Cole slammed the State Government’s management of their road network and said council didn’t want to follow in their footsteps.
“I’m proud that we’re doing our bit,” he said.
“I don’t think we want to follow the State Government’s lead and let it all fall apart.
“I’m more than happy to keep maintaining (the roads) and I think our residents are too.
“I’d much rather our way rather than their way.”
The motion was moved unanimously.