The Queensland Audit Office Report for Local Government Entities 2018-2019 stated “that more than half of Queensland Councils continue to spend more delivering services to their community than they receive in revenue from rates, fees and charges, and grants. This is particularly the case in rural, remote, and Indigenous areas.
Councils need to know which services their community’s value. This enables them to make informed decisions when deciding which services to provide and when managing costs.
Being financially sustainable is a challenge for grant-dependent councils, as grant funding fluctuates, and there is lack of certainty about the amounts that will be available in the future.
This uncertainty makes it difficult to make some medium-term decisions and to plan for financial sustainability in the long term.”
CT Management Group has a Sustainable Council Program (SCP) which is designed to assist and provide Councils a way forward to a sustainable future understanding and meeting community need and the challenges set out within the Auditor General’s report.
The Program starts with a detailed analytical view of today’s service offering and costs, including a profile of services and required capital investments, through to an agreed action plan for a sustainable future. The program provides the methodology and tools to guide affordable comparative choices between services and rationalisation where required to achieve sustainability.
With a thorough understanding of Council’s sustainability and future options, the SCP enable Council to engage the community with levels and range of services that the community wants and what the community is prepared to pay for?
CT Management Group’s Sustainable Council Program:
- Assists councils to deliver sustainable services, aligned to community needs.
- Invest in capital programs that aligns to council’s vision and sustainable service delivery.
- Establishes the agenda for community consultation.
- Facilitates council’s capacity to make informed comparative choices between competing service demands based on community priorities.
- Provides for a review of the governance framework around service, asset and financial management.
- Provides a detailed assessment and forward plan to ensure the financial sustainability of ongoing service delivery and capital investment.
- Identifies and addresses any existing known compliance issues reported from the Office of the Auditor General.
The four elements of the Sustainable Council Program are:
- Service Planning
- Asset Management
- Data and Information
- Financial Planning and Sustainability
These elements and their relationship are detailed in Figure 1. These are the pillars of a sustainable municipality and the foundations upon which sound community consultation can be built.
The Sustainable Council Program can be offered in separate elements or alternatively as a total program over a 9 to 12 month period.
We can assist you with your review!
CT Management Group has extensive experience in working with councils to achieve good governance controls and financial sustainability in today’s local government environment where available revenues must be maximised by a greater emphasis on good data and diligent asset management.
The Sustainable Council Program can be provided through the following Local Buy Panels to assist with procurement if required:
- BUS 272 – Business, Finance and Organisational Management Services
- BUS 280 – Asset Management Services
CT Management Group has over 80 experienced Associates, the majority of whom have local government executive level experience available to assist Councils improve services and systems. For further information on how we can assist your Council, contact Owen Harvey, Executive Director on 1300 500 932 or submit the form below.