Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
One of the 11 new/enhanced initiatives in our draft budget is an increase to our footpath shading and tree replacement program. It will ensure that any tree that might be removed from a streetscape will be replaced, resulting in no net loss on our current street tree numbers.
This will not only help amenity of the City, but increase comfort during warmer months.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. Please view all of the plans, and leave feedback before 16 June
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
For 2020/21 we have identified over $2.5 million in savings. $1.151 million is ongoing savings and will not only benefit this year’s budget, but also our long term financial sustainability.
We have also $1.644 million of short term savings measures that this year will be specifically used to offset any rate increase caused by inflation (also known as the General Index).
These savings have helped us keep this year’s rate increase to a historic low of 0.45%, while still delivering all our existing services as well as introducing 11 new services and maintaining long term financial stability. The majority of the rate increase (0.39%) goes towards covering the Waste Levy – a State Government cost that must be paid on every tonne of waste Council collects and takes to landfill.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. Please view all of the plans, and leave your feedback before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
The plan covers how we allocate your rates, so it's important that we hear from you. We have been explaining key parts of the plan over the last couple of weeks and there is more information to come.
If you have any questions about it, please let us know. We encourage you to view the documents and have your say by 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
What does that mean for you? A 0.45% rates increase is approximately $7* per year increase on rates for a house valued at $242,000.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. Please view all of the plans, and leave your feedback here before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
*Please note that the updated valuation data for 2020/21 is yet to be received from the Valuer-General. Therefore figures supplied are estimates only, until 2020/21 rates modelling can be completed.
Introducing the 11 new initiatives is about making sure we keep up with growth in the city as well as renew and replace infrastructure in our established suburbs. They include:
Find out more about each of these initiatives by viewing the plans, and leaving your feedback before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
We are focused on not incurring any more operating debt by achieving ongoing breakeven positions. We are also looking at ways we can repurpose assets to pay off old debt. We are starting to see positive results with a breakeven budget planned for 2020/21.
But reducing debt will take time – it is not something that will happen in one, two or even three budget cycles.
It also doesn’t mean we won’t incur new debt. We still need to pay for things like new roads and community building and instead of saving the money up to build these things, we might borrow the money and the debt can be paid off over the life of the asset. It’s a bit like buying a house; it’s rare that people pay for it up front, but will instead borrow the money and pay off the mortgage over time.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. Please view all of the plans, and leave your feedback before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. View all of the plans, and leave your feeback before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
Breakeven means we won’t borrow money to fund our everyday operations – we will only spend what we earn. This is like a family making sure it uses wages to pay for its weekly groceries, as opposed to buying food on a credit card, which means going in to debt.
This is important for Council as we don’t want debt from funding everyday operations. This is what we call bad debt. Making sure we don’t incur bad debt is a key part of our long term strategy to become financially sustainable.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
Our proposed budget strikes a balance between meeting the demands of rapid growth, while also replacing ageing infrastructure like stormwater and footpaths in established parts of the city.
This is just one part of our plan - we want to know what you think. Please view all of the plans, and provide your feedback here before 16 June.
Draft ABP 2020/21: Supporting growth, investing in renewal, and securing our financial future.
We understand Annual Business Plans can be complex, so over this consultation period we will be explaining what this plan means to you with regular social media posts so you remain informed and have an opportunity to have your say.
Here are some of the key things you need to know about this year’s draft Annual Business Plan:
We are here to support you and encourage you to have read over the plan and provide feedback via the Feedback Form before consultation closes on June 16.
We understand Covid-19 has been a tough time for everyone and as restrictions ease and we return back to a new normal, we need to continue to remain future focused and work with you on what needs to be delivered in the 2020/21 year.
*Please note that the updated valuation data for 2020/21 is yet to be received from the Valuer-General. Therefore figures supplied are estimates only, until 2020/21 rates modelling can be completed.