By Parker McKenzie
Yarra Ranges councillors have approved the draft 2023/24 budget under the spectre of cost of living pressures and high inflation at the Tuesday 6 June Council meeting.
Mayor Jim Child said one of the most important decisions that the council makes each year is the budget.
“This year we’ve taken a very different approach and I commend us as a council and also the executive team for going to the public at an early stage,” he said.
“Our budget is created on behalf of with the assistance of and for communities of over 55 townships. It’s one of our most important documents as I said previously and so community feedback was actually critical when we put this together.”
For the 2023/24 financial year, the council is expecting to have a total revenue of $245.6 million and a total expenditure of $225.6 million, resulting in a surplus of $20.1 million.
The council is also expecting a cash balance increase of $24.3 million, which is the amount of money the council will have after it has “met all its commitments from operations, capital expenditure and financial costing.”
Streeton Ward Councillor Andrew Fullagar said it is appropriate to mention that we are currently living in a “very restricted, tight financial environment with relatively high inflation.”
“There are higher expectations from our communities, and that’s appropriate. We should be looking to be to do better and be better,” he said.
“There’s also pressure from state government to take over some of the services that they’ve previously provided.”
A breakdown in the draft budget also showed a breakdown of how the council spends rates per $100, with the biggest expenditure being capital works ($27.94), followed by waste management ($10.73) and roads, drains and footpaths ($10.61).
Mayor Child said the council had heard from hundreds of people in the lead-up to the draft budget being ratified.
“Cost of Living pressures, including rising interest rates, material and labour costs have had a significant impact on the community and on our council,” he said.
“You can see we’ve done some very extensive work in this budget.”
The council said earlier in the meeting it had 687 contributions from people online and 209 people at six roadshow events.
The council unanimously voted to support the draft budget.
