The Standing Committee on State Development has tabled its report into the ability of local governments to fund infrastructure and services.
The report was tabled on Friday, November 29, 2024 after the committee held 10 hearings including in Dubbo and considered 129 submissions including one from the Central NSW Joint Organisation of which Cowra Council is part.
“Councils resource an inordinate amount of time on time wasting processes generated by the NSW government,” the Central NSW JO said in its submission.
“Councils and communities need to be in control of their own financial destiny as much as possible to be able to weather the constant economic shocks of their business-as-usual operating environment,” the council’s said.
The inquiry examined whether the level of income local councils receive adequately meets the needs of their communities and highlighted the financial challenges councils are experiencing.
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A key recommendation of the committee's report is that the NSW Government redesign the local government rating system, including reassessing council base rates, and seek to implement measures to provide local governments greater flexibility to set their own rates, whilst emphasising the importance of keeping rates affordable and maintaining safeguards to ensure rates meet community needs.
Emily Suvaal MLC, Chair of the Standing Committee on State Development, said: 'It is clear to the committee that councils are experiencing significant challenges which are threatening the financial sustainability of the sector”.
“As the level of government closest to the people of New South Wales, it is important to ensure that local governments can deliver the services communities expect and need in an efficient and financially sustainable way,” Ms Suvaal said.
“This inquiry has been an important step in examining the long-term financial sustainability of the local government sector, and the committee has made a number of key recommendations, which will go some way in addressing some of the cost pressures local governments face in delivering community services and assets and infrastructure.”
Some of the other recommendations in the report call for the government to:
• advocate to the Australian Government to increase the federal taxation revenue distributed via Federal Financial Assistance Grants from 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent
• consider state grant models that provide a more secure and sustainable source of funding to local councils and take into account the preference of local councils for predictable grants that are determined in a timely manner
• continue to improve the timeliness of disaster recovery assistance funding to local councils by utilising funding agreements such as tripartite arrangements
• identify opportunities to reduce cost shifting to local government, and undertake greater consultation with local government prior to making decisions that may result in cost shifting.
