Council is pleased to present its ‘Future Federation’ strategic plans for 2023/24 following adoption at our June Council meeting.
The ‘Future Federation’ Delivery Program, incorporating the Operational Plan and Annual Budget, is an important document that sets out Council’s action plan for achieving the community priorities outlined in the Community Strategic Plan (CSP). It identifies the specific projects, programs and activities that Council will conduct to progress community priorities, as well as initiatives required to fulfil Council’s legislative responsibilities. This is supported by the Annual Budget which outlines how Council will fund the delivery of services and projects to its community. It funds services like managing waste, maintaining infrastructure, community facilities and parks, operating libraries, events and services to people at all stages of life.
Council endorsed a 19% increase to general rates for 2023/24. This is consistent with the recent IPART approval for a temporary increase to general rate income for a two-year period of 19% in 2023/24 and 17% in 2024/25. Further hard copy and online communication and information about the increase will be provided to ratepayers when 2023/24 rate notices are distributed.
In adopting the plans, Federation Council Mayor Patrick Bourke said the overall plan’s primary focus was to ensure Council services are sustainable into the future, while delivering on the important objectives outlined in the Community Strategic Plan.
“Council unanimously supported scenario one that was publicly exhibited as it will provide capacity for Council to further address the asset management demands of existing infrastructure over an extended period of time and support Council to deliver its 45 services,” he said.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 15 residents who wrote submissions to Council and the hundreds of people that we engaged with over the two phases of engagement this year. Council responded to the call for an increase in community engagement methods and hosted 50 hours of face-to-face engagement with residents and other stakeholders and the feedback from this was a crucial aspect in the development of our plans.”
Mayor Bourke said he looks forward to continuing to engage with the Federation community on how Council can be financially sustainable whilst delivering the services that our community expect and value and managing Council’s assets with a longer term outlook.
“Council knows, and I think the community understands broadly, that Council’s roads and other infrastructure need additional ongoing funding to get on top of the backlog caused by years of underfunding,” he said.
“Having applied the rate increase for 2023/24 in full as per the IPART determination and staff recommendation, Council now has additional funds to commence the road back to financial sustainability. By way of example, these funds will enable the level of preventive maintenance on our road networks to increase, such as bitumen reseals to avoid total road failures that costs 10 times as much to then fix. Further work has and must be undertaken, alongside of our independent review, to ensure our plans can continue to not only meet the needs of our community in the short term within Council’s financial capacity, but also strengthen it for the longer term.”
Mayor Bourke said the next 6 to 12 months especially will be a time to engage further with the community on service level expectations and work on further financial solutions together.
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