Local residents have protested over fears council will “smash down” an iconic jetty which has fallen into disrepair on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
District Council of Tumby Bay has explained a new jetty will cost millions and residents would have to foot the bill through “not insignificant” rate rises.
The Tumby Bay jetty — built in 1874 — was damaged during a storm in October 2022 and eventually closed to the public in October 2023 following a safety assessment.
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Locals flocked to the jetty last weekend, jumping from it into the water, to protest over the lack of repairs.
“Have you ever wanted to see a small town enraged? You know what you do? You don’t fix their jetty,” one protestor said in a video posted to TikTok.
The woman said locals were complaining “nothing is getting done to fix their jetty” and they fear council was “going to smash it down”.
But demolishing the jetty would be a costly “waste of money,” according to District Council of Tumby Bay CEO Rebecca Hayes who said council was looking at several options for the jetty’s future.
“We are looking at options — one might be a rebuild, others are refurbishments at different rates,” she told 7NEWS.com.au.
‘We don’t get any funding’
Hayes said refurbishing the full length of the existing 350m-long jetty would cost more than $17 million, while it was estimated a new 250m-long jetty would cost about $10 million.
She said council is looking at how to sustainably fund the project, while considering other required works including a foreshore mitigation program estimated to cost about $18 million.
“Bearing in mind we’re a regional council with a small ratepayer base and income of $5 million in general rates per year, so it’s quite a significant cost,” Hayes said.
“We receive no funding for these projects, the ratepayers fund these projects through rates.”
While the Malinauskas state government announced a $20 million boost for the state’s 75 jetties in the last budget, it said: “Currently, 35 of the 75 jetties are divested to local councils and, under the lease arrangements, councils are responsible for all aspects of repairs and maintenance of these jetties.”
Hayes clarified there is no state or federal funding for jetties in Tumby Bay.
“We don’t get any funding … for jetties — what we get is the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program grant, which is a federal grant that has specific criteria,” she said.
The same grant was partly used to refurbish the nearby Port Neill jetty, which reopened to the public in October 2023 after nearly six months of works to repair the deteriorating structure.
However council said the grant could only be used on the Port Neill jetty project because it was clear the work could be completed within the grant’s strict federally imposed time frame.
“That particular amount of money was not enough to actually effect any change for the current Tumby Bay jetty, given the level of works that are required on that structure,” Hayes said.
Costs and timeframes for potential future work on Tumby Bay jetty are currently being assessed before those figures — and, “more importantly, the impact on rates” — are explained to the community, Hayes said.
“We’re working out those numbers now and they’re not insignificant by any means,” she said.
Ratepayers will then be surveyed on a preferred outcome, which Hayes said “will obviously include the option to do nothing”.