2020/21 Draft Annual Business Plan and Budget

** UPDATE**

Council endorsed the final 2020/21 Business Plan and Budget at their meeting on 23 June. The final document can be found in the document library to the right of the screen.

BACKGROUND:

Council will always need to find the balance between what residents expect Council to deliver, and what is appropriate and affordable for Council to provide, with the revenue available.

Each year, Council must make important decisions about how to allocate ratepayers' funds to the vast range of programs and services it provides via its Annual Business Plan and Budget. Council seeks your feedback on the draft plan.

Before a council adopts its Annual Business Plan it must prepare a draft Annual Business Plan and undertake a public consultation process.

The purpose of the Draft Annual Business Plan (DABPB) 2020/21 is to communicate:

• the services provided by the City of Burnside.
• any proposed new initiatives and projects.
• any proposed rate increases.

In drafting the DABPB 2020/21, Council seeks to achieve a reasonable degree of rate stability over time while ensuring ratepayers are paying for those services and infrastructure maintenance obligations they require. In these challenging times the draft budget for next year is based upon:

• no increase in general rates.
• new capital of $6m funded by grants and borrowings.
• savings of $750,000.

A Long Term Financial Plan assists Council with developing a budget within a prudent, longer-term financial framework. The key objective has been to ensure financial sustainability in the medium to long term, while still achieving Council’s goals as detailed in the Strategic Plan – Be the Future of Burnside 2026. This Long Term Financial Plan has informed the development of the DABPB 2020/21.

Supporting the community during COVID-19

Every resident has been affected by the impacts of COVID-19 so while Council is trying its very best to deliver services on a ‘business as usual’ basis, our residents need extra support.

Council is proposing to continue to deliver all 118 services for the community with a rates freeze and financial hardship rates relief in place. In addition to:

• No increase in salaries and wages with no increase in staff numbers.
• Delivering $13m in ‘Renewal’ and ‘Replacement’ Capital Projects as part of an economic stimulus package.
• Delayed non-essential and discretionary Operating and New Capital projects.
• Delayed Valuer-General Revaluation Initiative.
• Tight control over all other costs.*

* More information on these in the DABPB document (in the document library above).

Council adopted it's Fees and Charges for 2020/21 which have been frozen at the same levels as 2019/20. Read the Fees and Charges document in the Document Library above. Find out more about the fees and charges in the Important Links section above.

Financial Hardship

Council customers, including businesses, who are currently experiencing financial hardship can contact us to discuss an acceptable payment arrangement.

Council has implemented several immediate measures to ease the impact of this situation and resultant financial pressures on households. All details can be found here.