The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA) have announced good results at their Annual General Meeting, however expressed frustration at Federal and State funding cuts.
In presenting Annual Report, President Mayor David O’Loughlin said results from Council shared services operated or backed by LGASA were exceptional.
“The LGA’s Worker’s Compensation Scheme, LGA Mutual Liability Scheme along with the Local Government Asset Mutual Scheme announced special efficiency bonuses totalling almost $5 million to be paid back to Councils this financial year.”
This followed the announcement of a record bonus of $2 million to Councils from the Local Government Finance Authority.
Mayor O’Loughlin said the total of almost $7 million in bonuses demonstrated the benefits and the willingness of Councils to work together for their communities.
“I did have to report to the meeting that the Federal Government has cut Supplementary Road Funding of $18m for SA and another $6m by freezing the growth of Financial Assistance Grants.
“We also have the SA Government proposing to drop pensioner concessions on Council rates next year.”
Mayor O’Loughlin said it felt like while Councils were working hard to create efficiencies that other governments were stealing all the benefits from communities.
“A report to our AGM also shows a sector-wide operating deficit of just 0.05 percent or less than $1 million, compared with an operating deficit of $75 million in 2001/2.
“I am most worried about the impact of cuts in next year’s and future budgets.
“One quarter of our business is long-term infrastructure so the most likely impact of cuts is that our children will suffer from having to bear more of the cost of infrastructure upgrades.”
Mayor O’Loughlin also highlighted LGASA’s Research and Development Scheme which had allocated $23.9 million to 557 approved projects since its inception in 1997, the LGA’s Education and Training Scheme, and a new Legal Services pilot project.
LGASA’s 2013/14 Annual Report can be downloaded from their website.
