FOUR years after the State Government’s Budget announcement that a new fire station would be built at Serpentine, volunteers are still waiting for work to start.
The Country Fire Authority in February said construction would get underway within weeks.
Premier Jacinta Allan last month promised to be in town to turn the sod in June but Loddon Herald has been told this week that any official ceremony has been pushed back at least three weeks.
Last weekend’s official opening of a new fire station at Natte Yallock was abruptly postponed within hours of the emergency services tax being passed by the Legislative Council.
The Country Fire Authority earlier this year said. “Funding for the (Serpentine) station is $3.2 million.”
It will be the first new station built in the Loddon since 2019. Powlett’s new headquarters was opened in September 2015 and cost $260,000 while the new Inglewood station opened in 2019 with a price tag of $1.5 million.
Serpentine members were among Loddon brigades protesting in Melbourne on Tuesday. Among other brigades at the rally were Newbridge, Woodstock West, Wedderburn, Fentons Creek, Boort, Powlett, Pyramid Hill and Campbells Forest.
At least six local brigades have taken themselves offline in protest against the tax.