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Message from the Mayor
On behalf of all Councillors, it is my pleasure to present the 2021-2022 Scenic Rim Regional Council Budget to our community.
This is a budget prepared by all Councillors for all our communities across the Scenic Rim. It is formed by a collective consideration of the needs of the whole region. At its heart is the focus for all of us to serve the entire Scenic Rim and secure a strong future for the region. I acknowledge the diligent approach of the Councillors as we prepared this budget together, and also thank the executive and employees of Council for their dedication and efforts in preparing the supporting materials and operational detail, that helps Councillors make wellinformed decisions.
Like years before, the Budget is always a challenge to balance the aspirations of our community as identified in the shared vision of the Community Plan 2011-2026, while ensuring we meet our legislative accountabilities and commitments to maintain our $1 billion of assets, and maintain financial sustainability for the long-term. It is a double-edged challenge of continued need to increase capital investment, while also demanding additional operating investment to maintain these assets. This year, we are budgeting for a total expenditure of $101.9 million, which is up $14.6 million from last year’s budget of $87.3 million. This brings us back in to line with previous budgets, with last year’s being lower than normal recognising the impacts across the community following bushfires and the immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase also reflects a number of major projects, which are being delivered in this next financial year that are funded through various grant programs. We are grateful for the co-investment from both the Queensland and Australian Governments who collectively are contributing $20.1 million for both operational and capital projects. We continue to achieve a high-level of success through grant programs, which enables us to deliver important projects for our community, while reducing the impact on our general revenue. It’s also testament of our ability to plan well, present robust and well-considered grant applications and deliver community outcomes that align with the priorities of all levels of government and our corporate plan, Scenic Rim 2026. This year we have budgeted $37.3 million for our capital program, which provides ongoing base service level maintenance of our infrastructure and assets driven by condition monitoring and life cycle management, as well as our program of strategic change. Capital expenditure is increasing by $14.9 million from last year’s budgeted amount of $22.4 million recognising some of the significant grant funded projects that will be delivered this year. This includes the first phases of the Beaudesert Town Centre Revitalisation project, significant works on Kerry Road, footpaths at Beechmont and the refurbishment of the Tamborine Mountain Library. Council has purchased a building for the Tamborine Mountain Library refurbishment, which aims to provide enhanced community spaces that empower connectedness, and improve library and learning experience and better facilities, where allied health services can be delivered to the community. The need for a larger library footprint was identified in 2016 as part of the Scenic Rim Regional Libraries Space Review. It’s these reviews and strategies that help us to plan for the long-term and ensure the attractiveness and liveability of our communities is constantly being considered, even when we aren’t always able to deliver something in every community, in every year. While we have a goal of reducing waste to landfill, we will spend more than $2.3 million constructing a new landfill cell at our central Waste Facility in Bromelton and rehabilitating the existing landfill cells. This is part of our routine and ongoing management of our landfill, with rehabilitation of closed cells and construction of new cells for ongoing disposal of municipal solid waste conducted in accordance with the Queensland Government’s Landfill siting, design, operation and rehabilitation guideline.
Our Council grants programs feature in the 2021-2022 Budget with $295,000 allocated for our Community Grants Program, which provides funding opportunities for not-for-profit community-based organisations to deliver innovative projects within our communities that make the Scenic Rim a great place to live. Our Environmental Grants Program will see an investment of more than $104,000 to conserve and enhance the Scenic Rim’s most valuable natural assets. Maintaining our ecological balance is also critically important to support our key industries of agriculture and tourism. Once again, residents across the Scenic Rim will continue to have the opportunity to access free or heavily subsidised health and wellbeing activities through an investment of $90,000 for our Be Healthy and Active Program. Last year this included 42 health and wellbeing activities delivered by 29 Scenic Rim businesses and community organisations. The program has activities for all ages, and over the past year included new activities such as Laughter Yoga, Mindful Golf and skate and basketball programs for our youth. In our budget, we struck a balance to ensure we continue to deliver for all our communities. This includes pertinent services, significant support initiatives, and strong infrastructure support. Importantly the budget supports renewed economic growth, drives prosperity and employment generation so that we can move forward strongly, and together, as one Scenic Rim. This year’s budget will see a three per cent revenue growth from General Rates and Community Infrastructure Charges. Following last year’s decision to keep Fees and Charges at a zero increase, or in some cases, reduced as a result of process improvements, this year has seen both decreases and modest increases across our various Fees and Charges to support the delivery of services to our communities. Over the coming year, we will continue our strong focus on delivering on the commitments of our plans and strategies to improve our services, deliver efficiencies and to facilitate economic growth. As a Council, we’ve set a budget that is built on a strong belief in our region’s future and the need to continue to commit to supporting the vibrancy and activation of our communities. I am proud to present a budget prepared by all Councillors for the whole Scenic Rim.
Greg Christensen Mayor
