Council & Business
25 October, 2024
Council records deficit in annual report
The Central Goldfields Shire Council recorded a multi-million dollar deficit for the 2023-2024 financial year — with money spent towards council employees exceeding expenditure on roads by nearly $10 million.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, the Annual Report 2023-24 was unanimously adopted by councillors, some of whom were “amazed” and “proud” of all that has been achieved in the same period.
However, council’s financial position was only mentioned in passing.
According to the report tabled at the meeting, council posted an operating deficit of $5.5 million for the past financial year, with a $15.1 million variance on budget.
It is believed several factors were responsible for this variance, particularly:
Delay in receiving the Federal Assistance Grant, which the report says has been historically prepaid. In 2022-23, council was paid 25 percent of the grant for the same year plus an additional 100 percent for the 2023-24 period. This time around, instead of continuing the trend, the grant has been paid in the 2024-25 financial year.
Council’s decision to withdraw from providing Aged Care services to residents from March this year. As per the report: “The impact of this decision resulted in recall of funding from prior years as well as redundancies paid to impacted staff. This is a one off cost to council, and the benefit will be seen by way of reduced costs in the coming years”.
CPI increases, issues around tender submissions, and turnover of staff also had an impact on the budget.
Out of the total expenses of around $39 million, employee costs took up a significant portion of that spending.
With 41 percent ($16 million) going towards staff, closely followed by materials and services at 35 percent.
Within the capital works program, projects delivered amounted to $13.1 million for the 2023-2024 period.
“The greatest spend for the year was in roads ($6.1 million) including significant reconstruction of flood impacted roads,” the report said.
Money spent on covering employee costs comfortably surpassed the total capital works expenditure.
While council has finished in the red, since July 2023 it has also posted a surplus of community-focused achievements.
In the past year, several projects have been successfully delivered, including: multi-use courts at Deledio Reserve, upgrades to the 25 metre pool at Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre, restoration works at the Worsley Cottage, and opening of the brand new Visitor Centre at the station.
There have also been some challenges.
Earlier this year, the region was battered by a major storm event which caused significant damage across the shire.
Weeks after the storm, local residents were also impacted by the Bayindeen bushfire — resulting in an urgent relief centre being set up in Maryborough’s Princes Park.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Cr Geoff Lovett reflected on the past year.
“As I read the various financial statements, I’m constantly amazed at the tasks council undertake,” he said.
“Capital works program, delivering family services, maternal and child health, library, arts, parks and gardens, tourism, recreation — the list is endless, [they’re] all delivered with a very small, very tight budget.”
Cr Grace La Vella also spoke at the meeting, and was filled with praises for the report.
“This document is amazing,” she said.
Although the report highlighted council’s deficit position, Cr La Vella said “... a lot of money came to us through that period”, in relation to the successful delivery of projects.
“There’s so much more in this report and I would urge everyone to read it,” she added.