Adopted budget focusses on capital works and financial sustainability

Published on 26 July 2024

Horsham Rural City Council has adopted its budget for 2024-2025, centred around a $26 million capital works program and long-term financial sustainability.

Mayor Robyn Gulline said the budget continued Council’s focus on core services, programs and infrastructure that are critical to building a healthy, sustainable, liveable and connected community.

“The rate cap has been set at 2.75 per cent by the Minister for Local Government and it is against this figure that the budget has been framed,” Cr Gulline said.

“Despite facing both internal and external cost pressures, Council continues to play a crucial role as the regional city for the western area of the state, providing quality services to more than just our own residents.

“We will spend more than $15 million on maintaining infrastructure including rural and urban roads. It’s the fourth year in a row where more than $10 million has been allocated to our roads.

“The ongoing growth and development within the community have increased service delivery costs, particularly for the supply of parks and gardens, and the maintenance of roads and footpaths.

“The 2024-2025 budget has been developed in accordance with the 2024-2025 Local Government Model Budget, which is published annually to assist councils in preparing their budgets in line with legislative and regulatory requirements,” she said.  

Key Statistics

• Total Revenue: $64.946 million (an increase from $62 million in 2023-24)
• Total Expenditure: $63.082 million (up from $56.1 million in 2023-24)
• Surplus for the year: $1.864 million (down from $5.9 million surplus in 2023-24)
• Underlying operating result: $4.550 million deficit (a slight increase from $3.9 million deficit in 2023-24)

In preparing the 2024-2025 budget, several internal and external influences were considered, as they significantly impact the services delivered by the Council and the resulting budget position. The current inflationary environment has added further budgetary pressure, especially where cost increases of materials and services far exceed the Rate Cap of 2.75 per cent.

Capital Works 
The proposed capital works budget is $26.261 million, comprising $10.430 million of new projects, $14.823 million in renewal, and $1.008 million in upgrades. The capital works program will be funded by $7.889 million of grant funding, $17.841 million of Council cash from operations, reserves, and investments, and $0.531 million of external contributions.

The roads and related infrastructure capital program has a budget provision of $13.673 million, with $11.215 million allocated for the renewal of existing assets. There is also a budget provision of $3.169 million for further progress on the City to River works, including the City Oval netball courts and netball pavilion, the events stage, and initial works on the community centre/change room facility. The Wesley Performing Arts Centre refurbishment has a proposed budget of $2 million, dependent on significant grant funding of around $1 million and community contributions of $0.776 million.

Rates and Charges
The ‘Trigger of Review of Differentials’ Policy in the Revenue and Rating Plan 2021-2024 has been activated due to a difference in the valuation change exceeding 3.5 per cent between the general differential rate category and another differential rate category. As a result, all rating differentials have been reviewed, leading to the removal of the commercial differential (previously 95 per cent). However, the farm rate will remain at 50 per cent of the residential rate.