Budget should deliver a better Ballarat

Published in The Courier on Saturday 29 April

I am proud to present to our community the City of Ballarat Draft Budget 2023/24, which I believe is financially prudent and reflects the priorities of the community.  

Throughout the public consultation process, residents have told us what is important to them, and we have listened. We are making long term plans to invest in residents’ priorities, and we are backing them up with budget allocations. 

I am particularly pleased to see a focus on everyday priorities like road maintenance, drainage, footpaths and ensuring people of all abilities can move around our community as safely and efficiently as possible.

Here’s how we are prioritising residents’ priorities in this year’s budget:  

• Roads - $36.3 million for Capital Road Infrastructure, which includes doubling the Asphalt Overlay program from $1 million to $2 million.  
• Drainage - $3.1 million allocated for drainage projects. This includes $1.3 million for drainage maintenance across the city – an additional $1 million up from last year – and $1.77 million for capital drainage projects. We have also allocated $3.3 million in funding to the Miners Rest drainage scheme in 2024/25 and 2025/26, as well as a total of $2 million to support drainage works in Cardigan Village in 2024/25 and 2025/26.  
• Footpaths and cycling paths - we will also continue to focus on community cycling trails and footpaths in 2023/24 with a total investment of $3 million in maintenance and construction. This includes additional funding for the development of a footpath strategy and increasing the allocation of new footpaths by $250,000 to $865,000.

Throughout the development of this budget, we have been disciplined to ensure we deliver a budget that is not only financially responsible, but also balances the need for planning for the future with consolidating and finishing what we have started.  

The draft budget has allocated significant investment into ongoing community infrastructure projects. These include the restoration of Her Majesty’s Theatre, the Ballarat Library redevelopment, the Bridge Mall redevelopment, the Sebastopol Community Hub, the Airport Runway extension and many more. 

These projects are not new, but we are committed to getting them done and delivering a better Ballarat.  

Looking to the future, we know that sustainability is a top priority of our community. That’s why sustainability is another big focus of this budget. I am pleased to see $1.5 million in operating and $1.1 million in capital allocated to sustainability initiatives, which will help deliver on council commitments including the Carbon Neutrality and 100 Per cent Renewables Action Plan (corporate emissions) and the Ballarat Net Zero Emissions Plan (community emissions), as well as biodiversity, environmentally sustainable development and waste reduction.  In addition, environmental sustainability is an issue we consider when delivering all Council programs and projects.  

We are also rethinking the way we approach waste management with a major community consultation process recently completed. There are significant environmental benefits to changing our approach as we try and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. We are faced with increasing costs of managing waste and landfill that is reflected in the general waste charge increasing by 3.5 percent.  

I am hopeful that we might be able to reduce these costs over time as we implement the State Government changes that will require us to sort our household waste and recycling into four streams. The Council looks forward to considering a Kerbside Transition Plan later this calendar year.

With the Consumer Price Index rising 7.8 percent in the 12 months to 31 December 2022, we have been faced with the increased costs of delivering over 80 services and over 120 projects. This has resulted in the difficult but necessary decision to increase average rates by 3.5% in line with the State Government’s Rate Cap.  

We do not make such decisions lightly and appreciate every household is grappling with the increased cost of living. However, such an increase is necessary for us to adequately service the needs of our community. 

I am pleased to advise that there will be no new loan borrowings for the 2023/24 Financial Year. The City of Ballarat has determined that the operating results for 2023/24 and forecast cash position as at 30 June 2023 will be sufficient to deliver the proposed capital program. However, there are projected borrowings in subsequent years.

I believe that we have provided a balanced and financially prudent Draft Budget that allows us to meet the needs of our community now and into the future. I would encourage you all to read the Budget 2023/24 and provide your feedback by visiting the MySay website. 

We are committed to delivering a better Ballarat.

Cr Des Hudson

Mayor, City of Ballarat