Politics
Referendum Ordinance 2026 and Moonee Ponds Spending Votes
Moonee Ponds residents can now petition for direct votes on local tax and service allocations under rules that require more signatures than in several peer jurisdictions.
How we reported this
The Moonee Ponds City Council adopted the Referendum Ordinance 2026 on 12 June, allowing registered voters to place questions about property taxes and service budgets on the municipal ballot after collecting signatures equal to 15 percent of turnout in the prior election. The change applies to all 48,000 registered voters within the city limits and covers measures that would alter annual spending above $500,000.
City budget papers released in May project a $112 million operating budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, with 34 percent allocated to roads and 22 percent to parks and recreation. Policy analysts say the new process gives residents a formal route to challenge those line items without waiting for the next council election.
Daily effects on services and costs
Under the ordinance, a successful petition on road maintenance funding could force a vote that either raises or caps the portion of property rates directed to street repairs, directly changing annual bills for households in the central wards. A separate measure could address library operating hours, which currently serve 1,200 visitors each weekday at the Moonee Ponds branch. Local advocates note that similar rules in other jurisdictions have produced ballots on exactly these types of recurring service levels.
How Moonee Ponds rules differ from other systems
The legislation states that qualifying petitions must be filed 120 days before election day and verified by the city clerk within 30 days. This threshold exceeds the 10 percent signature requirement used in several comparable municipal codes, while the filing window is 30 days shorter than the average reported by the Productivity Commission review of local direct democracy tools. No revenue measures may appear on the ballot more than once in any three-year period.
The first petitions under the ordinance can be circulated after 1 August. The city clerk has published signature forms and a schedule showing that any measure reaching the ballot would appear at the November 2027 municipal election unless a special poll is called by council resolution. Verification of petition validity will rely on the same voter roll used for the 2025 council vote.