Rate capping and recycling make 18/19 Budget a tough task
Published on 23 April 2018
The increased cost of managing recycled waste and rate capping has made the 2018/19 Council Budget deliberations a difficult task.
In late 2017, China announced it would stop taking "foreign garbage" — including the 600,000 tonnes annually of low quality recyclable materials from Australia. In the 2017/18 financial year, Benalla Rural City produced 1562 tonnes of recycled waste.
In 2015, the Victorian Government introduced rate capping legislation which introduced an annual rate cap set by the Minister for Local Government which controls general rate increases, and revenue, for all councils during that financial year. The cap for 2017/18 was 2.0% and for the 2018/19 financial year is at 2.25%.
The Council, at its meeting on 18 April 2018, released a Proposed 2018/19 Budget that includes a maximum rate increase of 2.25% and a waste service charge increase of 9% plus a $33 per property charge to cover potential increases in recycling costs. The Proposed Budget details $29.2M revenue and $29.1M expenditure representing a small surplus of $75,000.
The proposed budget also includes $4.195M in capital projects for the construction of roads, bridges, footpaths and a Landfill cell and plant replacement.
Chief Executive Officer Tony McIlroy said ongoing service delivery within a financially sustainable framework is central to the Council’s operations and budget considerations.
“This will be the third year the Council has been implementing its internally driven strategy of doing the same with less,” Mr McIlroy said.
“We have reduced our staff costs from 49% to 40.2% of total operating expenditure and we are continually working to ensure we are delivering services in the most efficient, sustainable way.
“There has never been a tougher time for rural Councils and the Council has been working on preparing a sustainable budget since late January.”
The community now has the opportunity to provide feedback and make submissions on the Proposed Budget until 23 May 2018.
The 2018/19 Budget will be adopted by the Council on 27 June 2018 in preparation for the new financial year commencing on 1 July 2018.