Council Budget balances lifestyle and growth

Three main issues have dominated council's consideration of the 2011/12 Budget.

"While these issues have required extra deliberation, I feel council has reached a final decision that is both affordable and fair," Financial and Sporting Services portfolio leader Cr Mike Williams said.

"The decision by the state government to introduce a commercial waste levy, to be collected by councils, has accelerated the introduction of council's new waste management strategy.

"The state's deadline for collection of the levy from December 1 this year means council's waste facilities will need to be staffed and a waste disposal fee charged from that date," Cr Williams said.

"These changes require a significant capital investment. We have therefore increased the waste levy to enable us to comply with the Department of Environment and Resource Management's new requirements for refuse tip management.

"Council has endeavoured to keep costs under this new system at a minimum by staggering the introduction across some of the smaller waste facilities."

Cr Williams said the recent floods had left council with close to $100 million recovery program to be delivered over the next two years.

"Because we already had a substantial program of planned capital works, the challenge has been to build a capital works budget that is affordable and within our capacity to deliver given the constraints of our work crews and our ability to supervise contract works.

"Consideration has been given to prioritising flood recovery and essential capacity building while continuing to deliver a significant asset replacement program with reseals and gravel resheeting to ensure we maintain our current levels of service.

"The third significant topic of debate has been our water charging regime. Council has moved to alter the balance between access and usage charges now that the dams are full and it is anticipated that water usage will increase by a small margin.

"This will reward low water users and those who are self-sufficient. I would suggest it is appropriate the state government extends the extra $100 pensioner rebate on water usage offered to SEQ residents to pensioners in the Toowoomba region, given we have the same pressure on water prices," Cr Williams said.

"Over recent years, there has been comment that water costs should reduce when the pipeline is paid for. Can I say quite clearly that council's water usage charges reflect the cost of delivering water to the top of a mountain while also maintaining three dams and an aging water infrastructure including many hundreds of kilometres of pipes in the ground which will need replacing in the future.

"On top of this, we have a requirement from the state government to invest $63 million in increasing the safety of our dam spillways to mitigate the risk of damage to communities downstream.

"This budget sees the culmination of a strategy to have a unified rate system for the region. Council staff - in particular Financial Services manager Mike Stalley and principal revenue officer Shayne Morris - have brought together a complex puzzle from eight different differential rating systems.

"Based on the principle that similar types of property should pay the same rate in the dollar, our new system achieves a unified formula that ensures fairness and equity across the region.

"This year we had a land revaluation which has affected the rates of some landholders. Where the increases in value have been substantial, we have capped the rate increase to 30% and used averaging of valuation over three years to smooth the path for ratepayers.

"On average, the increase in general rate has been 4.8% while the overall increase in rates and charges is 5.8% due to the increase in waste charges. Council believes this figure is a responsible balance given our need to rebuild from the floods and acknowledgement of the economic uncertainty in the community," Cr Williams said.

"Council's budget this year will deliver a $2 million operational deficit with the expectation that we will be in surplus next year. This figure is ahead of our 10-year financial plan benchmark which had anticipated a $3.1 million deficit this year.

"This budget includes an extra $2 million in depreciation from last year, bringing our total amount available for capital asset renewal to $68 million this year. It is critical that this council continues to fund asset replacement and reserves to ensure a continued level of service in the future.

"On the capital side, this council will deliver over $150 million of new works not previously budgeted and is allowing for $214.5 million in funded carry-over works from last year.

"This is the fourth budget for this council and despite the difficulties of physical and economic events and the changing goal posts set by our state government, we have achieved many milestones. We are well on the path to financial sustainability with many of the difficult decisions already taken and a steady hand is now required to ensure the journey is completed.

"The last few months have seen the completion of the move to a full functional structure for the organisation. While I realise that this process has been difficult, we will now be in a position to work on business to achieve efficiency, ensure a consistent level of service and better manage our operational budgets for the future.

"The challenges that lay ahead for the financial services department include the implementation of a new asset management system and the further enhancing of our financial reporting framework to deliver more timely management reports for other departments," Cr Williams said.

Outdoor Sport & Recreation

This year's budget highlight is the allocation of $5 million to secure the land and planning for a new multi-sports precinct. It is anticipated that a project delivering up to 12 playing fields can be started this year.

"Council will be looking to partner sporting groups and the state government to deliver a regional sporting facility to relieve the pressures on our current fields and provide for future demand.

"This budget delivers $6 million to new sporting facilities and includes $3 million in carry over projects including the cycling criterium track which is approaching completion.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the finance staff who have worked many extended hours to ensure that this budget is delivered and the general managers who have amended their capital programs to ensure we have a budget that is responsible, affordable and achievable."