The Barossa Council has unveiled an ambitious plan to make the organisation more efficient, financially secure and responsive.
Council’s move is a response to growing financial pressure across all segments of the community, including at the local government level, and to the likelihood of diminishing support from state and federal grants.
Barossa Mayor Brian Hurn said that improvements of around 3.25 percent would be achieved through either efficiency measures or direct savings over the next three years.
“Achieving these improvements in our operations will require the effort, cooperation and patience of many,” he said.
“However we believe it is in our community’s best interest to continue to review our operations and manage improvements, and we ask the community to support us in this mission.
“Initially there will be some short term impacts but, if successful, this strategy will enable us to deliver outcomes like increased funding for projects, reduced rate increases, new services or a combination of these.”
At the most recent Council meeting, councillors considered the detailed plan, which aims to achieve efficiencies, savings and service improvements across a range of areas, including IT, committees, asset management, budgeting, contracting, risk management and customer service.
Barossa Council CEO Martin McCarthy said the program is ambitious and aims to deliver more efficient services.
“By improving the way we do things within the organisation, we can actually further improve our financial position as well as the level and standard of service we provide to the community,” Mr McCarthy said.
“In many cases this means working smarter not harder, being more flexible and adaptable to change, adopting best practice models from other organisations, and generally being more strategic in our approach.
“Although we may not see immediate financial improvements, we are aiming to further improve the organisation and make a genuine and significant impact on the bottom line.”
