Have your say on Council's Resourcing Strategy

The Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP) is a 10-year rolling plan that informs decision making and demonstrates how the objectives of the Community Strategic Plan and commitments of the Delivery Program and Operational Plan will be resourced and funded. The LTFP captures financial implications of asset management and workforce planning.

The Long-Term Financial Plan 2025-2035 outlines financial projections for Council over a ten-year period on a consolidated basis being a combination of the General, Water and Sewerage Funds plus an emphasis on the General Fund. 

It also includes a base case plus two scenarios based off assumptions outlined in the Plan and key performance indicator trends that mirror the indicators in Council’s annual financial statements noting these indicators have recently been abolished by the Office of Local Government without any proposed replacement indicators at this time.  In the absence of any current alternative, these will continue to be used.

The three scenarios contained in the Long Term Financial Plan are:

1. Base Case – Existing Council operations and current levels of service
2. Scenario 1 – Base Case + Asset Renewal Shortfall: inclusion of funding via a Special Rate Variation for asset renewal shortfall as outlined in the Strategic Asset Management Plan of $14.6million over ten years to address Transport Asset Renewals $10.4million and Buildings Asset Renewals $4.2million.
3. Scenario 2 – Base Case + Scenario 1 + Asset Backlog Shortfall: inclusion of funding via a Special Rate Variation for scenario 1 and asset backlog shortfall as outlined in the Strategic Asset Management Plan of $92.4million over thirty years to address Transport Asset Backlog $80.7million and Buildings Asset Backlog $11.7million.

What the scenarios indicate is that there is no change to the overall financial bottom-line projections in the Long-Term Financial Plan. This is due to the fact that additional revenue generated from either scenario, via a Special Rate Variation, is invested into either addressing Transport and Building Asset Renewal/Backlog shortfalls.

Along with the financial challenges facing Council, the Long-Term Financial Plan is currently projecting significant deficits that will need to be addressed in the General Fund in the years 2026/27 to 2029/30 in the General Fund as outlined on page 9 of the Plan.

One of the key purposes of the Long Term Financial Plan is to illustrate the outcomes of different scenarios and their impacts. Although the two scenarios involve generating additional funds through a Special Rate Variation, this does not imply that Council will necessarily pursue this option. At this stage, it simply demonstrates the potential impact of rate increases if Council were to address the current asset renewal and backlogs in Transport and Building assets, without altering the existing service levels.

As indicated in the Long-Term Financial Plan to implement Scenario 1 and 2, Council would need to pursue Special Rate Variation increases as a permanent addition to income if implemented hypothetically from the 2026/27 financial year:

• Scenario 1 – Special Rate Variation of 4.29% plus approved 2026/27 IPART rate peg.
• Scenario 2 – Special Rate Variation of 13.34% plus approved 2026/27 IPART rate peg.

The Long Term Financial Plan also shows the impacts on the published performance indicators in the Plan if Scenario 1 and 2 were implemented.

The Workforce Management Strategy (WMS) is a 4-year document that shapes the capacity and capability of the workforce to achieve council’s strategic goals and objectives.

It identifies how future staffing, and skills requirements will be met, through:

• Recruitment
• Staff progression and development
• Internal redeployment
• Succession planning.

The WMS outlines a plan of action for the following workforce priorities that require focus over the next four years:

1. Attract and retain a skilled and diverse workforce 
2. Foster a constructive workplace culture 
3. Workforce planning and improvement.

The core aim of asset management planning is to provide adopted levels of service for the community in the most cost-effective manner.

It also ensures alignment with:

• Community Strategic Plan
• Delivery Program

Assets under the management of Council include (but not limited to):

• roads
• stormwater pipes
• water and sewerage systems
• bridges
• footpaths
• buildings
• parks and playgrounds
• waste management infrastructure.

Asset Management Planning includes 3 parts:

Asset Management Policy

The Asset Management Policy (AM Policy) has a 4-year review cycle and was last updated in 2021. The purpose of the AM Policy is to affirm Council’s commitment to: 

• Prudent asset lifecycle management practices that enable the cost-effective delivery of services to the community
• Resourcing, funding and maintaining an Asset Management System (framework) to achieve the organisations asset management objectives
• Meeting community expectations for adopted levels of service
• Ensuring legislative asset management obligations are met The AM Policy covers the following asset classes and does not relate to land, fleet and plant, or privately owned assets.

General Fund Assets

• Transport Network
• Stormwater Drainage 
• Buildings (including leased and licenced facilities)
• Open Space
• Waste Management

Water and Sewerage Assets

• Water Supply Network
• Sewerage Network

Strategic Asset Management Plan

The Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) has a 10-year outlook and was last updated in 2016. The purpose of the SAMP is to provide strategic direction for Council’s 20 Asset Management System (framework) through:

• Articulating performance measures to achieve the asset management objectives within the AM Policy
• Identifying critical assets and key mitigation measures to implement for these
• Identifying known funding gaps to address levels of service 
• Documenting Council’s current approach to asset lifecycle management
• Establishing key improvement actions to advance the maturity of Council’s asset lifecycle management practices Like the AM Policy, the SAMP covers the following asset classes and does not relate to land, fleet and plant, or privately owned assets.

General Fund Assets

• Transport Network
• Stormwater Drainage 
• Buildings (including leased and licenced facilities)
• Open Space
• Waste Management 

Water and Sewerage Assets

• Water Supply Network
• Sewerage Network

Asset Management Plans for asset classes

Supporting the SAMP, Council has individual Asset Management Plans (AMPs) for:

• Transport
• Buildings
• Open Space
• Water & Sewerage infrastructure.

The Resourcing Strategy forms part of Council's Integrated Planning and Reporting. 

The Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework is the central planning framework for councils in NSW.

The Framework includes a suite of integrated plans that set out a vision and goals and strategic actions to achieve them.

It involves a reporting structure to communicate progress to council and the community as well as a structured timeline for review to ensure the goals and actions are still relevant. (Source: Office of Local Government).