Message from our General Manager

The development of a new four year Delivery Program is an opportunity to highlight the contribution Council makes to our city, day in and day out.

Delivering infrastructure and services

While community attention is often drawn to high profile capital works projects or major events, the core services of Council are critical to ensuring the livability of our city. Our workforce of more than 500 people deliver maintenance across a full range of facilities; plan for city growth and assess developments; collect and dispose of waste; undertake inspections to ensure public health; repair and improve our roads; provide events and great experiences for residents and visitors; operate our libraries, aquatic facilities, Gallery and Gaol; and much, much more.

Our four year forecast funding of $780 million will allow the services and operations of Council to continue at the levels expected by our community, and keep moving us toward the goals expressed in Maitland +10, our community strategic plan. A major change in this program is the accelerated delivery of infrastructure funded by development contributions in the expanding suburbs of Thornton/Chisholm, Lochinvar and Gillieston Heights. New multipurpose centres, parks and playgrounds, sport facilities, road widenings and intersections are programmed over this term of Council.

Council’s office based workforce will be located in a single building, as the new Maitland Administration Centre, including the refurbished Town Hall and Council Chamber, is opened in late 2022. Moving into a contemporary space will deliver ongoing efficiencies and allow us to take a major leap forward in our efforts to be unCouncil like in the way we deliver services to our customers.

Understanding our opportunities and challenges

During the development of this Delivery Program , the need to ensure we are sharing easy to understand information and engaging the community on both the opportunities and challenges we face as a city has been emphasised.

The 2020/21 estimated residential population data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in late March reveals that Maitland grew by 3.5 percent, welcoming an additional 3,056 residents. This was the fifth highest growth rate in NSW, and the highest outside of Greater Sydney.

Our long term financial plan reveals the impacts of this continuing and rapid greenfield growth on Council’s financial sustainability. While there may be a community perception that Council significantly benefits from additional rate revenue as new homes are built, in practice this is not the case. Our Delivery Program forecasts that for every dollar spent on Council services, rates will contribute approximately $0.55 with remaining required funds coming from grants, developer contributions and other revenues such as user fees.

These growing pains are not uncommon. Local government industry estimates show that greenfield development comes at six times the cost of infill development, resulting in significant financial impacts as newly constructed roads, footpaths, drainage, community, recreation and sport facilities are handed to Council for operation, maintenance and ultimately renewal over time. These developments provide residents with improved livability, but with significant increase to the councils operational, maintenance and depreciation costs.

Over the next few years, we will address the challenges and explore solutions to ensuring our ongoing financial sustainability, being open about that fact that maintaining Council’s existing services and service levels to an expanded community will require additional revenue.

I look forward to continuing to work with the community to implement Council’s program.

David Evans PSM General Manager Maitland City Council