TWO community groups are set to receive financial assistance from Bathurst Regional Council under its new stimulus measures.
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A sixth mayoral minute, to be dealt with a Wednesday's meeting, outlines the next steps council will take to support the community in the recovery from the pandemic.
It is proposed to provide $5000 to the Evans Arts Council, as a one-off payment, to support the group's operations.
Council also plans to provide $2000 to the Bathurst Agricultural, Horticultural and Pastoral Association (AH&P) to support its operations. This would also be a one-off payment.
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In addition to this, council intends to allocate $10,000 to engage Re-New Australia to undertake a scoping study for the Bathurst central business district as to the opportunity to utilise vacant floor space to catalyse community renewal, economic development and creative industries.
Mayor Bobby Bourke said the measures in the latest mayoral minute are all about helping the community and businesses.
"We'll continue to try to help the businesses and community groups that need assistance," he said.
"We're not fully out of COVID-19 and the effects of COVID-19 will not just go away tomorrow or overnight. I think we've got a hard 12 months ahead of us in trying to bounce back from COVID-19 and we'll continue to give assistance where it's possible."
The mayoral minute also provides data that indicates Bathurst is on a good path to recovery.
Overall, Bathurst has one of the lowest unemployment rates across the Evocities (Albury, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga), with this trend continuing during the COVID impacted period.
The Bathurst postcode also had the lowest number of businesses apply for JobKeeper across the comparable Evocities local government areas.
The mayoral minute also notes that recent new dwelling approvals have been strong and local spending bounced back quickly following the forced lockdown and has remained at elevated levels relative to the previous year.
Bathurst had the third highest new dwelling approvals out of the other Evocities, behind Dubbo and Albury.
COVID-19 to date has come at a cost of $5,638,408 to council, with it able to find $3,752,405 of reductions and savings to offset this.
The shortfall of approximately $1.9 million will be the subject of a further report to council.
Cr Bourke expects there to be at least one more mayoral minute coming this year.
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