Beach polo row flares again

Groundhog Day has returned to Broome's polo arena as a bitter dispute to host a two-day tournament on Cable Beach in May erupts again.

Marilynne Paspaley and promoter Janek Gazecki jointly held the event in 2010 and 2011 but it was cancelled at the last minute in 2012 following a dispute between the two.

Ms Paspaley eventually reigned supreme this year after Mr Gazecki failed to get an injunction in NSW Supreme Court and lost an appeal to the State Administrative Tribunal, claiming the Shire of Broome erred in its decision.

Her company Cable Beach Polo was given a four-year approval by the council in June.

The dispute has now bubbled back to the surface with Mr Gazecki's Polo Enterprises Australia applying to hold its own version of the event on May 24 to 25 - the same time and place as Ms Paspaley.

Polo Enterprises Australia has again submitted an application to SAT seeking a review of council decision to give Cable Beach Polo the nod instead. It is due to be heard in October.

The council refused his application because it was the same time and place of the previously approved event.

Councillor Jenny Bloom moved a resolution noting about $107,000 of ratepayers' money had been spent on the past SAT hearing - including legal fees - and that if the matter was resolved at the scheduled hearing in October, it would cost an additional $35,000.

Councillors have requested chief executive Kenn Donohoe write to Mr Gazecki "in the strongest terms" that council strongly disagrees with his "anecdotal" views contained in his 2014 submission and the council "refutes the assertions made in the event application that council formed a view that was unduly influenced by other parties in its considerations regarding an event application for a beach polo event in 2013".

The action by Mr Gazecki comes at a time council reserves run dangerously short of money in the wake of drastic budget cuts announced this year.

The reserve account for Broome Recreation and Aquatic Centre has virtually been cleaned out and severe pressure is on several others.

A number of capital projects have either been frozen or scrapped, and senior staff who have left have not been replaced in order to balance the books this financial year.

General rates have increased by more than 50 per cent over the past decade.