Now we have had time to digest the budget how have our peers viewed it?
Mayor Troy Pickard, President of Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), said, “ALGA has called for additional funding for the Roads to Recovery program and the extra funds indicated in the budget will be welcomed in helping to address the challenge of maintaining more than 640,000 km of local roads.
“But more needs to be done to ensure the local road network has the capacity required to address access, productivity and road safety issues, especially in regional areas. Additional investment in local roads must be part of the solution to increasing transport productivity on the nation’s transport network.”
The budget out-years also signalled an expectation that annual indexation of Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs), which will provide $2.3 billion in untied funding to local government in 2016-17, will return from 2017-18.
Local Government Association South Australia President Mayor Dave Burgess acknowledged that councils would be slightly ahead on federal road grants in 2016-17, but would slip further behind in subsequent years unless there are further improvements.
“Since 2014 SA councils have lost access to approximately $90 million in federal funding through cuts made to Supplementary Road Funding, and freezing of indexation for Financial Assistance Grants.”
Mr Hallam from the Local Government Association of Queensland said the Budget confirmed the Government’s commitment to a City Deals program that took advantage of ‘value capture’ as a means of investing in public infrastructure.
The new Budget holds no real surprises for councils in New South Wales, said Local Government New South Wales President Councillor, Keith Rhoades AFSM, and instead ‘focuses on balancing budget repair with the targeted investment’.
“With a Federal election and the State Government’s forced amalgamation proclamations looming, there has never been a more important time for councils and communities to hold their State and Federal MPs to account.”
So, are we ready for the election?
