The latest budget of Queensland’s Redland City Council reflects new thinking and a new direction for long term financial planning in the Redlands.
Mayor Melva Hobson said the budget is the result of a number of significant changes in the organisation in recent years.
“Over the past two years, we’ve had a new Council elected and a new Executive Leadership Group formed,” she said.
“We’ve been working together – along with the rest of the organisation – to set a new direction that reflects our community’s needs and expectations.
“A big part of that has been considering how past decisions have influenced our existing financial situation. Moving forward, it is critical we have a long term plan so we can take care of the community assets we have now, like parks, community centres, libraries and roads, and have money set aside to replace them in the future.
“To do this, we can’t just think about the budget for the next 12 months, but how we’ll manage our finances well into the future.
“That’s why this budget is the first step in a longer term financial strategy.”
Mayor Hobson said Council needed to decide what should be funded out of its savings, what could be funded through debt, and how long it might take to repay that debt.
“For Council, that means sharing the cost of critical community infrastructure across several generations of ratepayers,” she said. “Ratepayers fund the majority of the programs, infrastructure and services we provide, and a big factor in our decision making in this budget was our community’s capacity to pay.
“We’re also looking at other ways to raise revenue beyond rates and charges, by further exploring potential commercial activities and investments.”
Council has also had to absorb the impact of changes to its water arrangements. It is now one of three council shareholders in Allconnex Water, a new business created by the Queensland Government to manage water distribution (pipes) and retailing (billing) in Redlands, Logan and Gold Coast.
“Our shareholder income in the first year of Allconnex’s operation will be much less than we would have earned if we still had responsibility for water,” Councillor Hobson said.
“In coming years, this income will increase, but we’ve had to factor in a loss for the next 12 months.”
Councillor Hobson said that when determining its bottom line, Council first looked at ways it could reduce its own costs.
“Over the past few months in particular, we’ve been working with the organisation to find ways to do things better and more efficiently,” she said.
“Our organisational development plan, in place now for a year, has played a major role in achieving this.”
