Have your say on the 2024-25 Glenelg Shire Council budget

Published on 24 April 2024

Glenelg Shire Council has prepared a draft budget for 2024/25 – and is now seeking community feedback.

Council on Tuesday night approved the draft budget for public consultation.

Feedback can be made through the Your Say Glenelg website, by email or post from 26 April until 17 May 2024 and this feedback will be considered by Council at the May Council meeting.

Mayor Karen Stephens said she encouraged the community to read through the budget documents and have its say, as it did during the community consultation sessions in February.

“I’d like to thank all of those community members that attended budget sessions across the Shire and gave us feedback,” she said.

“Council has taken that on board and now that we have released the draft budget we look forward to receiving more feedback.”

The Draft budget does include the following which were raised during the community sessions.

• Inclusion of $50,000 to maintain the condition of the Heywood Old School.

• Ongoing funding of $25,000 in the renewal budget for accessibility projects throughout the Shire.

• Continuing funding for Christmas lighting of $50,000.

• Contributions to the three major events in Casterton, Portland and Heywood totalling $50,000.

• Ongoing funding of $200,000 through the renewal budget for recreational assets including playground equipment.

Council has worked hard to deliver an enormous capital works program over the past four years generated from significant stimulus funding and grant opportunities.

In 2024/25 we are aiming to get through the backlog and deliver capital works that focus on renewing existing assets, not creating new ones.

This budget places a priority in completing the backlog of capital works programs already scheduled whilst responsibly providing ongoing funding for renewal.

A modest new capital program of $7.3 million is proposed which is predominantly allocated to the renewal of existing assets.

New capital assets are limited to less than $1.5m and includes a new Street Sweeping Vacuum Truck and the first stage in the replacement of the Council core software system (ERP) which is end of life.

At this time Council expects to carry forward approximately $13.5m of capital projects into 2024/25.

The Fees and Charges have been reviewed against cost recovery objectives and benchmarked with similar Shires.

Several fees are well below industry standard and will be increased, some gradually, to address this deficit. Overall, the total fees and charges income is expected to increase by $145,000 up to a $2.7m total.

Each year, the demands placed on Council exceed the revenue available. Council will continue to focus on identifying sustainable cost savings that will enable it to deliver on the Council Plan 2021-2025 and ensure the needs and aspirations of the community are realised.

The budget document outlines the revenue and expenditure required to deliver Council’s extensive array of services and programs in the 2024/25 financial year and beyond.

It also includes income and expenditure allocated to maintain Council assets in accordance with prudent financial management.

The budget is a key contributor to the delivery of the Council plan.

A focus on the budget development has been to maintain existing service levels whilst ensuring expenditure is within the rates cap, which has been declared at 2.75% in 2024/25.

In dollar terms the rate cap equates to a maximum amount of about $688,000 that Council can increase its general rates income by.

The decision on the rate cap for the 2024/25 year was guided by independent advice from the Essential Services Commission recommending that rate increases be capped at the forecast Consumer Price Index to reduce pressures on household budgets.

Regrettably, the increase in the cost of living is significant to everyone at present and Council is not immune to this. The expenses incurred by Council to allow it to deliver services pose some significant financial challenges.

Costs of materials, utilities and insurance for example are all increasing at a rate far higher rate than the rate cap. The current economic climate has also seen a reduction in opportunities for grants, which in recent years Council has been extremely successful in obtaining.

Whilst the budget document outlines an operating result of a $2.031m deficit, this figure includes depreciation and amortisation.

A total of $25.8m is anticipated to be collected in general rates with $2.7m also collected in kerbside waste collection. Grants will total $27m.

The valuation information received by Council indicates property values have remained steady across the Shire with general land increasing by just 2% whilst rural land experienced a 1% decrease in overall value.

Excluding depreciation and capital funds Council expects to run its operations with a budget of $49m and receive revenue of $54m.

This operational cash balance of $5m will then be used to fund the capital program.

A summary of the key expenditure items and capital program is outlined within the budget document.

The Glenelg Shire cash position will however be negatively impacted by $2.745m with the delivery of the capital program including the carry forward projects from 2023/24, and is anticipated to be at $3.4m at 30 June 2025.

At this time this position is expected to further drop in 2025/26 pending the capital program delivery.

This figure is significantly lower than ideal but is required for Council to make inroads into its capital program. The past few years of using unspent capital grants funding has essentially overstated the true cash position.

Council staff have diligently reviewed operational budgets and identified costs savings which have been included within the draft budget, particularly within the materials and services component.

Budget Information Sessions were conducted in Nelson, Dartmoor, Heywood, Portland and Casterton throughout February seeking community input into the development of the draft budget.

These information sessions generated many excellent suggestions for budget consideration, however Council’s ability to fund many of these is restricted.

Feedback on areas of Council that the community wished to see service levels reduced in was minimal whilst requests for additional expenditure amounted to several million dollars.

Requests such as Food Organics Garden Organics (green waste) collection have not been included at this time given the additional financial impact it would impose on households and the fact that it is not mandated until 2030.

To provide feedback on the draft 2024/25 budget, please visit the Your Say Glenelg website from Friday, 26 April, email enquiry@glenelg.vic.gov.au or post to The Chief Executive Officer, Glenelg Shire Council, PO Box 152, Portland VIC 3305.

Alternatively hard copies of feedback can be dropped off at Council’s Customer Service Centres in Portland, Heywood or Casterton.

Feedback must be received by 5pm Friday 17 May.