Vol. No. Vol. 2718No. 1 27
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Wednesday, January 2016 Wednesday, July13, 3, 2024
Cutbacks on cards H
BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
indmarsh, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera shire councils are among Australia’s rural municipalities considering cutting key services according to submissions to a federal sustainability inquiry.
Services such as swimming pools, libraries, aged care and childcare facilities, and curbing the use of sports facilities and playgrounds are among items listed for possible cutbacks. In Rural Councils Victoria’s, RCV, submission to the Inquiry into Local Government Sustainability, chair and Southern Grampians councillor Mary-Ann Brown said despite the resilience and self-reliance of rural communities, they were ‘being hit’ from many directions, and face losing essential services and the only leisure facilities some communities have. Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera shire councils made submissions to the inquiry, outlining sources of revenue, and where money was being spent across each shire. “We are at a point where we have to make some hard decisions,” Cr Brown said. “Councils only have two reliable sources of income, rates – which are capped – and grants, which have been declining in real terms for years.” Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera councils are all heavily reliant on both incomes, with Hindmarsh’s rates making up 40 to 50 per cent of its revenue, and Yarriambiack relying of grant funding to make up 42 per cent of its revenue. However, the grant funding process comes at a cost to council, with its onerous and timeconsuming reporting and acquittal requirements. Rate capping, set by the State Government, is consistently lower than consumer price index, CPI, resulting in prudent budgeting, reduced service levels, and councils being unable to meet the maintenance and rural requirements of ageing infrastructure. Many residents are not able to pay higher rates to bridge the gap – 28 per cent of residential properties within Hindmarsh Shire have been approved under the rates concession program.
West Wimmera chief executive David Bezuidenhout said a CPI-linked rate cap was limiting. “A rate cap linked to CPI rather than councils’ input costs makes it more difficult to provide the same level and variety of services to communities each year, let alone expand services in new areas or take on responsibility for costs traditionally the responsibility of other levels of government,” he said. Councils have limited opportunities to raise money outside rates, charges, and grant funding. User fees, fines and community contributions toward grant funding make up five per cent of Yarriambiack’s total revenue in the 2024-25 budget, although facilities such as caravan parks – raising $1.4-million in the Hindmarsh shire – are offset by their running expenses. Cr Brown said governments have forced local governments to take on extra responsibilities without extra funding, in areas such as libraries, environmental obligations, waste management requirements, school crossing supervision, and early years care and education. “Governments have all been guilty of ‘cost shifting’, forcing local government to take extra responsibilities without providing adequate funding, as well as cutting support for local government in real terms,” she said. “RCV has surveyed member councils, and the survey results show that councils are being squeezed on both expenditure and revenue sides.” Yarriambiack Shire chief executive Tammy Smith said the decline in volunteer numbers had also contributed to the demands on council. “Since the COVID pandemic, and with an ageing population, we are experiencing a decline in volunteerism, which in turn has seen a shift in community expectations and higher demands on council,” she said. “We are facing the very real possibility, due to funding constraints, of not being able to meet the service level demands.”
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MUDDY FUN: Violet Smith enjoys a mud puddle at Davis Park in Nhill. The Wimmera has had a few decent drops of rain in the past week. Violet is the daughter of MinyipMurtoa football star Tanner Smith. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
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