Baw Baw Shire Council is inviting the community to review and make submissions on the 2023/24 draft Annual Budget, Long Term Infrastructure Plan, Council Plan 2021-2025 (Annual Review 2023/24), Rating and Revenue Plan, and Long-Term Financial Plan.
Together, these documents detail how Council will invest our resources to deliver the services, infrastructure and support our community needs.
This Budget delivers now, and lays down markers to ensure a healthy, thriving, and sustainable Baw Baw Shire for years to come.
Draft Annual Budget 2023/24
The Draft 2023/24 Annual Budget is a prudent and measured response to current economic and environmental challenges. As a Council, we are committed to facing these challenges with pragmatism and purpose, deploying our resources as effectively and efficiently as possible to ensure that our residents have access to the services, infrastructure, and support they need.
The Operating Budget represents income of $129.54 million, expenditure of $101.48 million, resulting in a surplus of $28.06 million. This surplus figure is converted to an adjusted underlying result that better reflects Council’s level of financial stability. This result excludes grants received for capital purposes which are non-recurrent and capital contributions from other sources. The adjusted underlying result for 2023/24 is an underlying deficit of $3.44 million deficit.
This underlying deficit reflects a financial position consistent with the current rate capped environment of 3.5 per cent, and the realities of delivering services and infrastructure for a rapidly growing Shire population.
Click here to view Council’s Draft Annual Budget 2023/24
Long Term Infrastructure Plan
Council’s Long Term Infrastructure Plan 2023/24 -2033/34 (LTIP) adopts an innovative ‘plan, design, deliver’ approach that will see $57.98 million of projects delivered across the financial year and feature the completion of a series of multi-year strategic projects that will provide a vital boost to residents and community facilities across the Shire.
In addition, a Community Infrastructure Reserve has been established to enable future investment in community infrastructure that may include recreation facilities, early years infrastructure and community facilities for the benefit of our residents. This reserve will grow over time and provide opportunities for Council to respond and serve the growing needs of our community.
Click here to view Council’s draft Long Term Infrastructure Plan 2023/24 -2033/34
Council Plan 2021-2025 (Annual Review 2023/23)
The Council Plan is a four-year road map laying out the services, priorities and strategies we will pursue to ready the Shire for the future, and support community quality of life as we continue to grow. It was adopted in 2021 and is reviewed and updated each year to make sure it remains aligned with the Community Vision’s strategic objectives of a sustainable, healthy and thriving community and Shire.
Revenue and Rating Plan
The total revenue from rates and charges for 2023/24 is $73.85 million (including supplementary valuations and interest on rates and charges).
The rate increase is capped at 3.5 per cent in line with the Victorian Government’s Fair Go Rates System (FGRS). The rate cap applies to the total rates revenue received by Council, not to individual ratepayers.
At the time the rate cap was announced, inflation was 8 per cent in the 12 months to December 2022 – more than double the rate cap of 3.5 per cent. Operating within this rate capped environment presents a significant challenge because it means that Council’s rates revenue alone is not sufficient to fund all the services and infrastructure that it is required to deliver.
Despite these challenges, Council has kept average annual fee adjustments to 6%, below the CPI increase of 8% in the 12 months to December 2022.
Long Term Financial Plan
The Long Term Financial Plan is developed to align Council’s financial capacity with long-term service objectives. Financial planning uses forecasts to provide insight into future financial capacity so that strategies can be developed to achieve long-term sustainability considering Council’s service objectives and financial challenges.
Make a submission in response to the draft Budget and key documents.
All community members are invited to review the draft Budget and key documents, and to make a submission in response.
Submissions may be made in the following ways:
- Through the online form on Council’s Website.
- In writing and posted to Baw Baw Shire Council, PO Box 304 Warragul 3820
