Trends and Looking Forward

TRENDS

This year saw pressure on teams and resource availability, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, industry-wide high turnover rates, challenges in sourcing goods, and an uncertain economic climate impacted our business and our people. Despite these challenges, our people demonstrated great resilience, progressing our Operational Plan by 71 per cent and delivering a $50.5M capital works program. The successes and learnings from this year are setting Council up for success for future years and enabling us to deliver more for our community.

LOOKING FORWARD

Budget

The challenges with economic uncertainty and inflation being presented to our region, and country, made the 2022/23 Budget one of the most challenging to deliver. Despite these challenges, Council is proud to deliver a surplus budget that places the Gladstone Region in a strong financial position. The 2022/23 Budget of $260.4M enables Council to manage $2.5B worth of assets and is backed by a $51.4M Capital Works Program, supported by $14.2M in grant funding and will see Council continue to deliver for the region.

Proudly GRC

The theme for 2022/23 is ‘Proudly GRC’. This theme sets a purposeful focus on supporting our people to deliver quality services for the Gladstone Region and making Council a place that our people enjoy walking into every day; where we can be proud of what we do. At the core of our business is community and each day we strive to deliver the best outcomes for our region.

Financial Sustainability

Enabling Future Financial Sustainability is a key initiative in the 2022/23 Operational Plan. This initiative aims to support Council to have a well-understood financial position and through identifying opportunities to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and understand opportunities for ongoing sustainable delivery of Council services. As custodians of public funds, we understand the importance of providing good stewardship built on a foundation of trust. This initiative will support Council in continuing to embed good financial practices into decision-making and improve our long-term financial outlook to ensure we meet our community’s needs now and into the future.