Councils are under pressure to meet increasing expectations with declining revenues and many are reporting a financial sustainability problem.
State and Australian Government responses to Local Government financial sustainability have been to increase annual reporting requirements, apply revenue restrictions and encourage or impose amalgamations.
But are these strategies effective or even necessary? JRA Datashare provides tools and resources to answer questions like:
- When a council reports a large infrastructure backlog how reliable is the underlying data?
- What does it mean when two similar councils report vastly different infrastructure backlogs and service costs?
- How can a council demonstrate to their community that service costs and delivery methods are value for money?
- How can a council show their community and other levels of Government that cost shifting and reducing grant funding is resulting in reducing service levels.
- If there is a funding backlog, what are the risks and how can these be managed and communicated (Injury, Service Interruption, Environment, Financial, Reputation)
JRA Datashare provides an efficient solution to annual sustainability reporting by providing consistent and validated data and resources for achieving financial sustainability. These include:
- Modern equivalent unit costs and in service life (depreciation rates) for infrastructure assets.
- Service level and costing templates to enable measurement, reporting and comparisons for all services (asset and non- asset based services)
- Example risk registers for infrastructure based services.
- State sustainability reporting. (SS7 and FFF)
- Simplified and automated statistical returns
- Service Plan Dashboard templates
- Annual improvement process maps and plans to improve the underlying data aligned with each budget cycle.
- Service review kit and resources.
JRA Datashare also provides a free portal for recording and updating data for National State of the Assets Reporting for ALGA (Australian Local Government Association). Access to this section is free.
JRA Datashare provides standard lifecycle profiles for all asset types to provide a consistent methodology for asset components and the lifecycle cost of components. The lifecycle profiles are based on the JRA database that includes over 20 years of data on infrastructure costs, life and expenditures for all Councils across Australia. Access to this section is under license.
In NSW the regular road and bridge benchmarking study is now captured and managed on JRA Datashare. Access to this section is free.
Public sector asset managers are accountable for managing knowledge about asset cost, risk and performance. Assets such as people, the natural environment, ideas, money and infrastructure all compete for resources. This website assists asset managers to improve their evidence base to support wise trade off decisions on investment of community wealth. The trade off between effective and efficient investment in assets and cost to the community should be transparent and the cumulative impact for future generations known and clearly communicated.
To find out more contact Felicity at JRA on (02) 4751 7657 or log on to www.datashare.net.au
*Copy supplied by JRA Datashare Professional
