<p>With significant population growth planned for the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area, Council needs to consider how best to fund new long life infrastructure (for example, open space and community facilities) to cater for this growth.</p> <p> Council currently has low levels of debt and is proposing to prudently use debt to forward fund many of the required community services. This is because it is frequently cheaper and easier to provide these early. The debt will be progressively repaid when contributions are received by developers as well as future residential and business ratepayers when they move into the precinct.</p> <p>An alternative approach is to fund the additional expenditure through higher rates from current ratepayers and to reprioritise other planned capital works (that is, not doing other significant projects Council has planned to do).</p> <p> Do you support Council's proposed approach in responding to the challenge of growth in Fishermans Bend?</p>