Bega Valley Shire Council has called for all parties and candidates in this year's federal election to put our communities first and commit to increased funding for Australia's 537 local governments.
Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said federal funding for councils has been declining for decades, with increasing responsibilities and extra costs being pushed onto councils.
"We need ongoing sustainable funding and the federal government needs to ensure we get our fair share," the Mayor said. "We deliver a vast range of services yet are limited in our ability to fund those services.
"Time and time again I have advocated the federal government reinstate financial assistance allocation to a level equivalent to 1% of federal tax revenue.
"Insufficient funding from the federal government hits country communities in the hip pocket. Our financial struggles will continue, even with the recent rate increase, and we are one of many councils across the country in the same boat.
"Councils exist in an operating environment where income is constrained by legislation, competitive grant funding is declining and service expectations from the community and other levels of government are increasing. Local government is particularly vulnerable for all these reasons.
"Collectively we must face some uncomfortable truths and make some hard choices.
"There is no magic fix to the challenges we face, however the federal government can increase its contributions from taxes collected to help correct the financial sustainability challenges councils are facing."
Council has endorsed five national funding priorities for local government, in addition to restoring Financial Assistance Grants to 1% of Federal tax revenue:
- $1.1 billion per year for enabling infrastructure to unlock housing supply
- $500 million per year for community infrastructure
- $600 million per year for safer local roads
- $900 million per year for increased local government emergency management capability and capacity
- $400 million per year for climate change adaptation.
Mayor Fitzpatrick said this funding should be provided to all councils on a formula-basis, similar to the way Financial Assistance Grants and Roads to Recovery funding have been for many years, so every Australian community benefits.
"Long-term and sustained funding helps our communities have good conversations on how to focus the effort of our Council beyond the competitive and political grant round cycle," he said.
"We have several significant projects to be delivered in the coming decade and many of them are reliant on securing competitive grant funding.
"We have more than $1.9 billion in assets to manage and relying on unpredictable grant programs is simply not sustainable.
"If the federal government wants to see economic outcomes, fund councils adequately so we spend money locally to deliver the projects and services our community need."
