The cost of removing graffiti from Brimbank council-owned properties has jumped by almost $100,000 over the past year.
However, Sunshine and St Albans traders associations believe it’s money well spent, going a long way to help clean up the suburbs’ major centres and graffiti hotspots.
The council allocated $320,000 from its current budget for graffiti removal on council buildings and in open spaces, compared to $232,000 in its 2014-15 budget.
Infrastructure and environment director Neil Whiteside said the town centres of St Albans, Sunshine and Cairnlea were the biggest problem areas in Brimbank for ‘tagging’.
Sunshine Business Association president Bruce White said he believed Brimbank was “winning the war on graffiti”, at least in Sunshine’s city centre.
“Council put in place a twice-weekly clean-up service – which has been quite successful – nearly two years ago,” he said.
“Mess breeds mess.
“If you can get on top of graffiti early, it stays away.
“If a tagger thinks it’s only going to stay up for a day, they’re less inclined to do it. We [Sunshine town centre] look a lot better in terms of cleanliness compared to other council areas,” Mr White said.
“We hope it continues … with all due respect, we don’t want to end up looking like Footscray.”
St Albans Traders Association president Sam Agricola said the clean-up costs were an “investment in the municipality”.
He said a special rate scheme put in place over a year ago for St Albans businesses was also funding a private graffiti removal contractor.
“There’s not a lot of work to do [for council] in the area covered by the special rate scheme,” he said.
“I have no problem with council spending that amount of money; it’s an investment in the municipality,” Mr Agricola said. “Nothing puts people off more than coming to an area with lots of graffiti; it looks unsafe.”
Sunshine’s Police Inspector Dave Byrt said shopping areas and open spaces with visible fence lines were tagging hotspots at Cairnlea.
