Message from our General Manager

Message from the General Manager

The development of a Long Term Financial Plan is vital for informing both Council and our community about the long term financial sustainability challenges facing our organisation.

A financially sustainable Council is one that can meet the service and asset needs of the community both now and into the future, without incurring unmanageable debt or making revenue increases that are unaffordable for customers and ratepayers.

Our Long Term Financial Plan is essentially a financial projection, quantifying the cost of providing Council’s services for the next ten years. It is more comprehensive than a budget and includes, in addition to the financial statements, a written commentary and scenario options.

David Evans PSM General Manager Maitland City Council

It projects the impact of Council’s revenue against operational and capital expenditure forecasts. Our projections take into account assumptions for economic factors, changes to service delivery levels, potential future changes to our service mix and major capital (asset) expenses.

The plan is a tool to assist decision-making. It allows us to test the realities of our continued population and asset portfolio growth, as well as broader community aspirations, against financial realities. There is no doubt this will lead to some difficult conversations, as Council and the community grapple with adjusting levels of service or alternatively finding additional revenues.

The aim of our Long Term Financial Plan is to facilitate financial decisions underpinning our Delivery Program and Operational Plan, considering short, medium and long term factors. It is informed by our continued growth in predominately new greenfield suburbs, and considers the additional costs associated with asset maintenance and Council services for our new population over time.

Our plan presents three scenarios, and clearly identifies the financial sustainability challenges we will face as Council and our community over the next decade and beyond.

Council will continue to engage with the community to ensure awareness and understanding of our financial challenges, and consult on the ways by which these challenges might be overcome in the future.