Message from the CEO
Across the nation, the Australian Government, state governments and local governments work together to provide communities with the services we need. Sometimes this work is done in partnership. For instance our major arterial road networks in Queensland are managed by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, while local councils such as the Scenic Rim Regional Council manage and maintain local road networks. At each level of government, taxes are collected to raise money to provide communities with services and infrastructure. At the local government level, councils raise only three per cent of taxes, however, are required to maintain 70 per cent of all roads and 35 per cent of all infrastructure assets. In the Scenic Rim, we maintain almost $1 billion of infrastructure assets for our communities. This includes 962 kilometres of sealed roads, 793 kilometres of unsealed roads, 247 major culverts, 130 vehicle bridges, 15 pedestrian bridges and 80 kilometres of pathways. We maintain 43 playgrounds, four libraries, four swimming pools, 220 buildings, 66 public toilet facilities, and 129 parks, reserves and camping grounds, which cover 426 hectares of land. We manage these assets across an area covering more than 4,200 square kilometres, with a team of less than 400 full time employees. Back in the 2010 financial year, our workforce consisted of more than 1.1 full time employees per 100 residents. Today this number sits at around 0.88 full time employees per 100 residents, yet our population has increased by more than 6,000 people in that time. That is, less employees delivering more value for ratepayers, our customers. For the 43,625 people who call the Scenic Rim home, and for those who choose to do business here, it is important that we are efficient, effective and economical with our public resources, provide excellent service delivery and continually improve. And we are driven to achieve this every day.
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Scenic Rim Regional Council
We are under pressure to meet the needs and expectations of our communities, and we work hard to do this. And we are doing more, with less. Our team of employees work hard to provide better customer outcomes and improved services while managing increasing costs and challenges such as responding to disasters and the global pandemic. They are passionately committed to our customer focus journey and are enthusiastic about our modernisation program. Often, they are working with inefficient systems that are frustrating, and they too seek change to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. This year, our operational costs will be delivering the next round of efficiencies. We know our customers want better online services and tools, faster turnarounds and more transparency. This all comes at a cost. To deliver new initiatives costs money - it is that simple. In preparing the budget, we work from the ground up from zero. Our teams don’t receive an automatic budget to spend - they must carefully analyse what they will require to deliver the expected and implied base standards of services that our community expects. And then it is up to Councillors to balance the cost of services and savings for our ratepayers against the loss of service or levels of service. They are also required under legislation to think beyond their own division for the good of the region - for the whole Scenic Rim. This sometimes means there may not be a new capital project in a particular area, however we are committed to strategically planning for our major infrastructure projects and have a series of asset management plans to guide our future planning for both capital and maintenance of our assets.
