Council to see a reduction in Financial Assistance Grants
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A decision to reduce the financial contribution to Council, from the Queensland Local Government Grants Commission, has been heavily criticised by Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) Mayor Paul Antonio.
“In local government we’re the community builders for our residents,” Mayor Antonio said.
“To do this, we need adequate funding from the State and Federal Government and any decision to reduce our current level of funding is a kick in the guts to our residents.
“In the correspondence I’ve received this week, Toowoomba Regional Council is set to become a ‘minimum grant Council’ under the new Financial Assistance Grant allocation methodology, commencing from the 2022-23 financial year.
“This means the current allocation we receive under this program will be significantly reduced.
“This decision has been made on the view that our Council is financially stable enough that it only requires minimum funding revenue which is hard to take.
“In other words, we’re being punished because of the way we’ve carefully managed our finances over the years.”
Under the new methodology, TRC Finance and Business Strategy Committee Chair Geoff McDonald said Council was likely to see its funding allocation decrease by 23% for the 2022-23 financial year.
“This financial year we will receive about $14.5 million through Financial Assistance Grant allocations,” Cr McDonald said.
“With a 23% reduction, this will see our funding cut by about $3.3 million in the 2022-23 financial year alone which will be a huge impost on our community.
“Over the next three financial years we estimate the reduction to be around the $7.9 million mark.
“To put this into perspective, the reduction in funding equates to an increase in general rates by an additional 3%, or the equivalent cost of 36 full time staff. If this were to happen, service levels and/or financial reserves set aside for critical infrastructure would be eroded.
“This is a terrible outcome for our community and must be addressed immediately.
“To ensure our residents aren’t disadvantage in any way, we will be speaking with the Queensland Local Government Grants Commission on this decision as a matter of urgency.”