Sustainable future focus of 2021-22 Council budget
Delivering a sustainable future for our community is the focus of the 2021-22 Whitsunday Regional Council Budget adopted unanimously at a special meeting in Proserpine today.
Mayor Andrew Willcox presented his sixth budget as Mayor which included an average residential rate increase of 1.8%.
“This is the first increase in general residential rates across the region during my time as Mayor.
“A spanner in the works faced by Council in determining its revenue base for the next financial year was the new region-wide land revaluation undertaken by the Department of Resources.
“These revaluations, conducted after a lapse of five years, have created wide fluctuations in land values, both increases and decreases,” Mayor Willcox said.
“As the value of land is the basis on which general rates are calculated, these fluctuations create major shifts in the rates between rating categories as well as between individual properties within categories.
“Council has had to make significant changes to all elements of the general rating system to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of general rates between the nearly 19,000 properties within the Whitsunday region.”
Mayor Willcox said to balance the multiple competing requirements, Council deemed it necessary to impose a small increase in general rates as well as increases to utility charges for the financial year 2021-22.
“While the overall general rates increase has been maintained to the minimum necessary to cover Council’s operating expenses, due to the valuation changes, there will be varying increases and some decreases.
“The main aim of this budget is to strengthen Council’s financial position while delivering the capital works required to ensure that Council can continue to deliver quality services to the community.
“Thanks to our prudent financial management during the COVID19 pandemic, Council has been able to maintain essential services to our residents and this budget ensures a sustainable future for our community,” he said.
“The impact of COVID-19 has been challenging and forced us to reshape our budget thinking to have an even greater focus on how to lead our community forward.
“Today my Councillors and I presented a balanced Budget that not only ticks the box of liveability for our residents but importantly is also a framework for a sustainable financial outlook for future generations.”
Mayor Willcox said during these unique times Council placed a strong focus on providing grassroots projects that would make a difference to the everyday lives of our residents.
“How do we meet community expectations with lower revenue without significantly increasing rates?
“Basically, Council has had to balance providing essential services to the community without compromising the medium to long term financial sustainability of the organisation,” he said.
“In many ways, we are no different to our residents who are reviewing their budgets for their households or businesses.
“As we recover from the health and economic challenges of COVID-19, Council is committed to investing in what makes our regional towns such great places to live, work and play.
“Council and our Whitsunday community have a history of banding together through cyclones and monsoonal rain events and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic has been no different,” Mayor Willcox said.
“We realise the crucial role Council needs to play in delivering strong financial management, local jobs and leading our community forward to get people back on their feet.
“Importantly, Council’s $127M operating budget ensures we maintain sound financial management through a surplus of $470,000,” he said.
This Budget will see the finalisation of key recovery projects from 2017 Cyclone Debbie, including Bowen’s Flagstaff Hill, the Proserpine Entertainment Centre and the revitalised Shute Harbour terminal.
Once completed these major facilities will create jobs for locals and help forge a bright future for the Whitsunday region.
Mayor Willcox said Council welcomed the continuation of the State Government’s Works for Queensland funding which will see improvements to existing community infrastructure fast tracked into this budget.
“This funding ensures improvements to local buildings, parks and gardens, and community facilities,” he said.
“Importantly this is a back-to-basics budget that will see no new loans and a commitment to debt reduction.
“Almost $5M has been allocated to reduce our current loans, meaning Council will end the next financial year with a debt of approximately $74 million and an asset base of $1.2billion….in simple terms that compares to effectively owing $74,000 on a $1.2M home.
“These are unprecedented times, and my Council has worked hard to ensure there are minimal impacts upon households across the region.
“Under my watch Council have practised responsible financial management by delivering balanced budgets, significantly increasing our asset base, introduced a focus on organisational reform and controlling our debt,” he said.
“We are the caretakers of an amazing and diverse part of the world and our community has historically shown amazing resilience in difficult times.
"My Council will continue to provide strong united leadership and I look forward to working with CEO Mr Rod Ferguson on delivering the 2021/22 Whitsunday Regional Council budget for our community.”
Visit the Whitsunday Regional Council website www.whitsundayrc.qld.gov.au and our Facebook page for range of information and videos relating to the 2020-21 WRC budget.