Councillors begin tough Budget planning

Published: 23rd March 2023

Mayor Darren Power said this year’s Budget would be one of the most challenging for the city’s elected members, who are committed to making responsible decisions to minimise financial impacts to ratepayers.

“As an organisation, Council is facing the same pressures of sharply rising costs that local residents and businesses are experiencing,” Cr Power said.

“The services we provide are so wide-ranging and deliver so many benefits to our local communities, it is vital that we maintain good financial management and continue to invest in the infrastructure and programs that our residents and business owners need.

“Over the past year, increased inflation through the soaring cost of electricity and construction materials has impacted our bottom line.

“We expect it will become even more difficult to source materials such as concrete, pipes and steel in the future due to global market pressures and we have to prepare for this.”

Governance Chair, Cr Karen Murphy said she was looking forward to chairing the Budget workshops for the first time.

“As elected members, we take pride in reviewing Council’s operations to make sure value for money is front of mind with every decision we make,” Cr Murphy said.

“We will work hard to explore every possible approach to funding the delivery of infrastructure and services to the community as well as exploring partnership opportunities that we can tap into.

“I expect we’ll have many robust discussions over the coming months to ensure the best possible outcome for our community ahead of the Budget being adopted on June 19.”