Annual Report 2009/2010 - Hawkesbury City Council - NSW ...

Annual Report 2009/2010
This Annual Report, together with Audited Financial Statements and State of the Environment Report, has
been produced in accordance with Section 428 of the NSW Local Government Act (1993) and Section 217 of
the NSW Local Government (General) Regulation 2005. Financial Statements are produced in separate
volume.
The composition of Council changed in the reporting period as unfortunately our longest serving Councillor
(Dr) Rex Stubbs OAM passed away on Saturday, 24th April 2010. The NSW Electoral Commission held a
by-election on Saturday, 19th June 2010 and Kim Ford was elected on Wednesday 23rd June 2010.
Council is still faced with the increasingly difficult task of prioritising and meeting the increasing demands for
services and facilities for a population which is dispersed over nearly 2,800 square kilometres. This needs to
be completed with limited and in some cases depleted sources of income. There are some very hard
decisions that need to be made to ensure the Hawkesbury’s financial stability and to maintain the effective
running of its many services and facilities.
Council has been able to take advantage of additional funding provided under the Australian Government’s
Local Community Infrastructure Program and the Australian Jobs Fund to bring forward to completion
projects valued in excess of $1.6 million which have greatly benefited Hawkesbury residents and could not
otherwise have been provided in the short term. Council is proactive in sourcing a wide range of grant
funding to supplement rate and general income and sound financial management and judicious investment of
surplus funds has seen our finances protected in this difficult economic period.
The development of the 20 year Hawkesbury Community Strategic Plan was a proactive response to the
foreshadowed Local Government Amendment (Planning and Reporting) Bill 2009 and Local Government
(General) Amendment (Planning and Reporting) Regulation 2009. The Hawkesbury Community Strategic
Plan was adopted by Council on 13 October 2009.
It is planned to fully implement the new framework by 2012, and this will replace the former Management
Plan and Social Plan with:
• a Community Strategic Plan together with a community engagement strategy.
• a Resourcing Strategy that includes long term financial planning, workforce planning and asset
management planning
• a Four Year Delivery Program which identifies detailed strategies and actions to achieve objectives of
the HCSP that Council can implement.
• an Operation Plan that will spell out the detailed actions in the Delivery Program to be implemented
each year including a statement of revenue policy and a detailed annual budget.
• Annual Report:
- outlining achievement against the Delivery program
- a State of the Environment Report
- audited financial statements, and
- an end of term report by the outgoing council
2010/11 will be the first year that the new community strategic plan is incorporated into the planning process
as provided by State Government guidelines. There will be a gradual implementation of a new planning
framework which will see a major review of the manner in which these documents are presented. During
2009/10 much time has been devoted to preparing for these changes.
A great deal of work will need to be done, particularly in developing a resourcing strategy to complement the
long term financial planning already in place, with workforce planning and asset management planning.
In the meantime this Annual Report summarises Council's business practices and performance against
strategic objectives outlined in the Management Plan for 2009/2010.