Sustainability and Affordability Challenges

Georges River Council takes great pride in its role of providing and maintaining high quality local services for our community. If Council is to continue to deliver the current level of services and facilities, we need to effectively plan for the future.

In 2018, it was identified there was declining profitability and a dramatic decline in cash forecast over the 10 year period. This was due to two fundamental problems: 1. Council does not generate sufficient operating income to fund operating expenditure for its current service portfolio and program of works 2. Each year, increases in operating income are less than the increases in operating expenditure.

Over the past four years after extensive engagement with the Community, Council received approval from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal to increase rates over five years (known as a Special Rate Variation) in conjunction with a $12 million savings target.

This revised LTFP outlines the impact of the approved Special Rate Variation (SRV) and the projected financial results based on budget saving strategies implemented annually.

The next 10 years presents the requirement for Council to generate sufficient funds to carry out $422 million worth of infrastructure outlined in the adopted Contributions Plan and also establish a financially sustainable base to enable funding of projects outlined in strategic documents, that currently have limited or no funding options. The value of these works is over $400 million.