Greater Shepparton City Council Director Business Chris Teitzel said that in simple terms the budget can be broken down into two main areas, how much we plan on spending and how much income we need to fund this spending.
“The spending is made of two components, the operating budget and the capital budget. The operating budget tells you what it costs to run the Council every year,” said Mr Teitzel.
“In the 2015/16 budget Council is planning on spending $117m on operations. From this money Council staff will deliver 70 different programs to the community that cover everything from providing kindergartens, events, running sporting facilities, waste management to maintaining roads, bridges and parks.”
“The capital budget details how much money we will spend on constructing and upgrading assets such as buildings and road. The 2015/16 financial year will be one of the biggest capital budgets that Council has ever undertaken with just over $40m worth of projects planned,” said Mr Teitzel.
“Some of the bigger programs include Verney Road Stage 2 $3.3m, Regional Sports Precinct $9.2m, Cosgrove 3 Landfill $6.2m, Aquamoves changerooms and carpark - $2.5m, expansion of the saleyards $0.8m, drainage works - $1.4m, kerb and channel works - $1.4m, road works – $6.8m and the Katandra West Community Centre $1.2m.”
“To fund all of this work Council has budgeted to raise just over $125m in revenue. Rates and charges make up about 54 per cent of our annual income and in line with Council’s rating strategy and long term financial plan, the total amount of income we will receive from rates and charges in the 15/16 year will be 4.95 per cent more than what was raised in the 2014/15 financial year. Other sources of income include user fees, statutory charges, and state and federal grants.”
The budget included funding for two submissions from the community. The Shepparton Heritage Centre asked for funding of $25,000 to install for fencing around their premises on the corner of Welsford and High Streets to help secure the premises.
The Light up the Lake community campaign group asked for lighting on the western side of Victoria Park Lake from Aquamoves to the shedding at the southern end of the lake due to health and safety concerns and for community wellbeing reasons. Funding of $50,000 was allocated for the design and investigation of lights from the capital works budget with Cr Kevin Ryan subsequently requesting that $160,000 proposed to light up the Telstra Tower in the CBD be reallocated to this project which was also approved by Council.
For more information about the budget visit greatershepparton.com.au/budget
