Indigo Shire Council has adopted the 2023/24 budget and associated documents, paving the way for another big year of capital investment across the Shire.
In adopting the budget, Councillors acknowledged the challenges of delivering a break event result, given the current financial climate where inflationary pressures are having a huge impact.
Mayor Cr Sophie Price says while the budget is tight, it will not impact Council's ability to deliver quality services to the community as well as a significant capital works program and investment in the maintenance and renewal of vital infrastructure, including sealed and unsealed roads, footpaths, drains and bridges.
"We've had to manage economic factors that are beyond our control, with ensuring that we are meeting the needs of our community, largely expressed through extensive community engagement," Cr price says.
"We had 315 responses to our pre-budget survey, and a further 32 submissions during the public exhibition phase. Overwhelmingly, respondents want Council to focus its spending on maintaining and improving existing infrastructure such as roads, drains, footpaths and community buildings."
"I believe this budget delivers on this, with our $17.6M capital works program made up of i$11.4M of new projects, including funding to construct the Rutherglen Wine Walk Cycle Trail, which is fully funded through a $5.1M Federal Government grant and $6.2M in carry forwards to complete projects already approved in previous years' budgets.
Included in the program is:
- $2.7M to maintain roads, bridges, footpaths and drains
- $1.23M to reseal priority rural roads and re-sheet gravel roads.
- $700K to improve urban and rural drains
- $529K for bridge renewal and improvement works
- $350K to upgrade the female change rooms at Barkly Park (subject to state government grant of $1M)
- $300K towards construction of pump tracks at Tangambalanga and Wahgunyah (State Government also contributing $300K)
- $170K to progress the Kiewa River Community Park improvements
- $100K for public toilet improvements
"Rates and municipal charges will go up by 3.5% which is in line with the rate cap set by the State Government and waste charges will rise in line with CPI. We know that the rate rise will impact some ratepayers more than others and assistance is available for anyone experiencing genuine financial hardship," Cr Price said.
"Like all Councils, we're facing increasing costs that exceed our income. We've had two years of rising inflation, but the government-imposed rate cate has not kept pace with CPI, creating a widening gap between our revenue and our costs."
"Many of our existing contracts, such as waste management are indexed to CPI, which is running at around 7.8%. Labour and material costs are also rising in line with inflation, but our ability to raise additional income is severely restricted by the rate cap, which for 2023/24 has been set at 3.5%."
"Taking all this into consideration, we believe tour 2023/24 budget reflects strong prudent financial management that meets the targets set out in our Long-Term Financial Plan ensuring our long-term financial sustainability," Cr Price concluded.
