Community resilience shines in Council's annual report

Sustainable management of finite resources increasingly remains a key priority for Isaac Regional Council during unparalleled times.

Council’s 2020-21 Annual Report outlines how the Isaac region is transforming from mining investment boom, to a community evolving with challenging economic and social conditions.

Mayor Anne Baker said the annual report showed the 2020-21 financial year tested the resilience of the Isaac region both economically and socially.

“Between July 2020 and June 2021, 298 events led and supported by Council have been reactivated,” Mayor Baker said.

“In 2020-21, tourism, advocacy and reactivating community engagement has been a priority to helping Isaac return to a new kind of normal.”

In response to the pandemic’s acute social and economic impacts, Council was proactive in implementing a range of financial support measures to assist the most vulnerable sectors and individuals in the Isaac region to safeguard the local economy.

The 2020-21 capital works program, totalling $54.9 million, saw Council maintain critical infrastructure, bolster economic activity, and support active and attractive communities across the Isaac region.

CEO Jeff Stewart-Harris said there was an increasing demand on Council support, services and resources.

“Yet there is not a corresponding increase in our rate-base to support the cost of services, nor increases in funding from the state or federal governments,” Mayor Baker said.

“The financial year of 2020-21 reinforced our continued focus on the fundamentals of good local government, delivering critical infrastructure, services and attractive communities.

“This approach reinforces our ability to continually move forward with resilience to deliver quality services to our community, and continue our aim to feed, power and build communities.”

Mayor Baker said Council achieved this through a frugal budget approach, allowing Council to ease cost-of-living pressures on our residents and businesses, freezing rates and levies in 2020-21 at 2019-20 levels and implementing a broad range of concessions.

“To further stimulate the local economy and steer the region through the COVID-19 community recovery, Council increased the weighting in our procurement applications, so local companies are weighted higher than non-local businesses,” Mayor Baker said.

“Council also brought forward the Shop Isaac program, endorsing local businesses through cards loaded with money and spent in our Isaac businesses.

“These initiatives complemented a $1 million investment in the COVID-19 Strategic Recovery Plan, a two-year plan to help re-activate our Isaac communities that the pandemic impacted.”

The annual report is Council’s most comprehensive report to the community describing how the Council has met its annual objectives.

The central objective is to inform communities and stakeholders of Council’s performance during the financial year.

Visit https://www.isaac.qld.gov.au/about-council/annual-report to view the 2020-21 Annual Report and previous publications or call 1300 ISAACS (1300 47 22 27).