Overview - Parramatta City Council - NSW Government

Responding to our Community 

2005/06 

City Leadership and Management Program 

City Development Program 

Roads, Paths, Access and Flood Mitigation Program 

Regulatory Program 

Environment Program 

Community Care Program 

Culture and Leisure Program 

Parramatta City Council Annual Report

About this Report (language translations) 

Chinese 

Arabic 

Farsi 

Korean 

Filipino 

Cover photograph. David Wallace Photography

About this Report 

Welcome to Parramatta City Council’s Annual Report on the delivery of its 

services to the community in 2005/06. These services are grouped under the 

seven Program areas of City Leadership and Management; City Development; 

Roads, Paths, Access and Flood Mitigation; Regulatory; Environment; 

Community Care; and Culture and Leisure. 

This ‘report card’ is designed to give readers and website viewers a clear 

idea of how Parramatta City Council met the goals, objectives, indicative 

Performance Measures and Resident Satisfaction targets of its 

Management Plan 2005/06 – 2008/09. 

2005/0601 

Parramatta City Council 2005/06 Annual Report

Parramatta City Council’s 2005/06 Annual Report is available in 

two different formats—this statutory version and a briefer 

community version to be distributed as part of Council’s 

December 2006 Community News newsletter. Copies of either 

version can be obtained by telephoning Council’s Communications 

and Marketing Team on (02) 9806 5086 or the Customer Contact 

Centre on (02) 9806 5050. 

This annual report is also available for viewing and/or 

downloading on Council’s website (www.parracity.com.au) as a 

series of PDFs, as well as a cross-referenced interactive PDF. 

Local Government Act Requirements 

The comprehensive version satisfies the Local Government Act 

1993 Section 428 requirement that within five months of the end 

of each financial year, a council must prepare a report as to its 

achievements with respect to the objectives and performance 

targets set out in its management plan for that year. 

Our Supplementary State of the Environment Report 2005/06 has 

been separately reported and is also available on Council’s website. 

This statutory document has been prepared in accordance 

with the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) criteria for 

good corporate reporting. Though not required under NSW 

legislation to report according to the International Global 

Reporting Initiative (GRI), for the first time we have indicated 

where we are able to meet relevant ARA and GRI criteria as 

part of our commitment to best practice reporting. p215 

Further Information 

Customer Contact Centre 

30 Darcy Street, Parramatta NSW 2150 

PO Box 32, Parramatta NSW 2124 

Telephone: (02) 9806 5050 

Fax: (02) 9806 5917 

Email: council@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Website: www.parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Parramatta Heritage and 

Visitor Information Centre 

Phone: (02) 8893 3300 

Email: discoverparramatta 

@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

02 Riverbank pedestrian and cycle ways celebrate 

Parramatta's Aboriginal and European heritage. 


Finding Your Way Round this Report 

Overview 

About this Report 

Inside front cover 

Finding Your Way Round this Report 03 

Deliver by Program, Report by Program 04 

Snapshot Performance by Measure by Program 05 

Parramatta at a Glance 06 

Proud Past, Promising Outlook 07 

Getting to Know Council 08 

Where You Can Find Us 09 

Year in Review Calendar 10-11 

Lord Mayor’s Message 12-13 

General Manager’s Report 14-15 

How Council Works 16-17 

Representing the Community 18-19 

How Council is Organised 20-21 

Planning for Now, Planning for the Future 22-23 

Our Roadmap to the Future 24-25 

How we Measure, How we Improve our Service Delivery 26-29 

How we Manage our Finances 30-32 

How we Spend Special Rates 33 

Achievements, Challenges, Outlook at a Glance 34-37 

Evaluating this Report 

Program Reporting 

Principal Activities 38-39 

City Leadership and Management Program 40-55 

City Development Program 56-63 

Roads, Paths, Access and Flood Mitigation Program 64-71 

Regulatory Program 72-79 

Environment Program 80-89 

Community Care Program 90-101 

Culture and Leisure Program 102-117 

Financial Reports 

Understanding these Accounts 118 

General Purpose Financial Reports 121-180 

Special Purpose Financial Reports 181-195 

Local Government Act Reporting 196 

Special Rates 197-198 

Section 12 Reporting 199 

Section 428 Reporting 200-210 

Glossary of Terms 211-212 

Index 213-214 

Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) Criteria 215 

Evaluation of this Report 216 

Acknowledgements 217 

To help us improve our reporting to the public, we would like to know how useful you found this annual report. 

We would appreciate you taking the time to copy our evaluation page, answering a few questions 

and faxing it back to us on 9806 5053. p216 

Global Reporting Initiative Index 

What’s required 

Include a GRI index linking 

GRI components to 

information in the report. 

Report on the organisation’s 

profile, governance and 

management systems. 

Respond to each core 

indicator by either a) 

reporting on it or b) 

explaining its omission. 

Ensure that the report is 

consistent with GRI reporting 

principles. 

Include a statement signed 

by the Board or CEO 

indicating that the report 

was prepared in accordance 

with the 2002 GRI Guidelines 

and represents a balanced 

and reasonable presentation 

of the organisation’s 

sustainability performance. 

Where it is 

This summary grid index, and the 

detailed grid on page 215 of this 

report, fulfill to the best of 

Council’s ability the GRI reporting 

requirements. 

Profile pp 6-9, governance pp12-19, 

management system pp20-25. 

Corporate Measures pp30-33, 

Financial Measures pp34-36, 

Program Measures pp40-117. 

Additional measures cited in the 

Management Plan 2005/06-2008/09 

and not included in this annual 

report have already been reported in 

Council’s four Quarterly Reviews, 

available on Council’s website 

(www.parracity.nsw.gov.au). 

Please refer to page 215 of this 

report for more detailed compliance 

with GRI guidelines as encapsulated 

by ARA criteria. 

General Manager’s Report 

page 14-15. 

For detailed ARA criteria 

p215 

Finding Your Way Round the Report 

03 


Deliver by Program, Report by Program 

Deliver by Program, Report by Program 

From policing school 

zones to strategically 

planning the 

revitalisation of the 

CBD, Parramatta City 

Council delivers a wide range of 

services across its Local Government 

Area. To better explain what we deliver 

to the community, we group all our 





pp40-55 

pp56-63 

pp64-71 

pp72-79 

services under seven clearly 

recognisable Program areas as follows: 


pp80-89 


pp90-101 


pp102-117 

04 


Snapshot Performance by Measure by Program 


Great news for callers. 97% of calls were resolved at first point of Customer 

Service Centre contact during June 2006, up from 73% in July 2005. 

Signs of improvement? 72% of community requests for service were responded 

to within our agreed timeframe in June 2006, up from 67% in June 2005. 


Worth a visit? 54,270 people visited our Parramatta Heritage and Visitor 

Information Centre, up 9% from 49,675 in 2004/05. 

Clearer guidelines, happier customers! 79% of users were satisfied or very 

satisfied with information we provided about our Land Use Controls. 


Roads need work. 48% of residents were satisfied with the conditions of roads 

within the Parramatta LGA, on par with 49% in 2004/05. 

Link those cycleways! 58% of residents were satisfied or very satisfied with the 

condition of Parramatta’s cycleways, in line with 59% in 2004/05. 


Good news for short-term parkers. 845 parking patrols were carried out in 

June 2006, a 67% increase from 504 in September 2005. 

Two year’s hard work pays off. 72 average calendar days for determining DAs 

for dwelling in 2005/06, down 23% from 94 days in 2004/05. 

 

 

 

 

~ 

~ 

 

 


Less waste going to landfill. 20,871 tonnes of dry recyclables and garden waste 

were diverted from landfill in 2005/06, a 6% increase on 2004/05’s 19,737 

tonnes. 

Bush in good hands? 54% of residents were satisfied with Council’s management 

of the bushland under its care and control, down from 67% in 2004/05. 


55% of residents were satisfied or very satisfied with Council’s emergency 

clean-up response, up from 52% in 2004/05. 

Turn on the lights? 51% of residents considered the level of lighting was 

appropriate for Parramatta’s streets, down from 54% in 2004/05. 


Coming back for more. 83% of users surveyed were satisfied or very satisfied 

with Council-staged events. 

Venues up to scratch. 83% of users surveyed were satisfied or very satisfied 

with the quantity and quality of Council-owned/managed recreation facilities 

such as pools, parks and halls. 

✗ 

~ 

~ 

 

 

Snapshot Performance by Measure by Program 

05 


Parramatta at a Glance 


Parramatta’s assets and opportunities 

> twenty four kilometres west of Sydney’s CBD, at the head of 

the Parramatta River and on the main western railway line, 

Parramatta is accessible by road, rail and ferry 

> sixty five kilometres of natural creeks and 13.4 kilometres of 

open channels intersect the 61 square kilometre Local 

Government Area (LGA), with around 720 hectares of 

Parramatta classified as open space 

> experiencing a massive program of CBD and neighbourhood 

revitalisation, around $2.5 billion worth of new development is 

planned for the LGA over the next five years 

> Parramatta’s $8.9 billion per annum economy (at factor cost), 

Australia’s fifth largest in 2004/05, is underpinned by: 

– Sydney's largest health facility, the multi-hospital campus at 

Westmead 

– the largest concentration of financial and business services 

institutions outside the Sydney CBD 

– the third largest legal precinct in Australia, set to become 

the second largest in 2008 on completion of the Parramatta 

Justice Precinct 

– a concentration of over 1,100 retail businesses located close 

to public transport networks 

– the educational campuses of Granville TAFE and the 

University of Western Sydney, Parramatta 

> 45 per cent of Parramatta’s population were born overseas, 

with the top five overseas birthplaces China, Lebanon, UK, 

India and New Zealand (2001) 

> 45 per cent of Parramatta’s population speak a language other 

than English at home. Aside from English (54.2%), the most 

widely spoken languages are Arabic 10 per cent, Chinese 8 per 

cent (including Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean 2 per 

cent (2001) 

> between the 1986 and 2001 census there was a 97 per cent 

increase in Parramatta residents from non-English speaking 

countries 

> between 2000 and 2003, 2,986 migrants and 675 refugees 

settled in Parramatta, with the latter intake second only to 

Blacktown’s annual rate of 1,200 refugees 

> Parramatta ranks 33rd across NSW in the Index of Education 

and Occupation, and 64th in the Index of Relative 

Socio-economic Disadvantage (Total =167) 

06 

> the sixth largest CBD in Australia, Parramatta ranks as one of 

the State’s four ‘Primary Centres’, along with Sydney, 

Newcastle and Wollongong 

> the heart of Western Sydney, Parramatta has the twelfth 

largest population of any city in NSW 

> designated as Sydney’s second CBD in the Metropolitan Strategy 

for Sydney, Parramatta is a major regional transport hub 

> having undergone a $100 million upgrade of its rail and bus 

interchange, Parramatta is the centre of nine strategic bus 

corridors 

– major cultural, conference, entertainment, sporting and 

tourist facilities including the Rosehill Gardens Racecourse 

and Exhibition Centre, the Parramatta Stadium, the Riverside 

Theatres, and a significant heritage and cultural tourism 

sector. 

Snapshot of Parramatta’s population 

> an estimated 151,860 people live in the Parramatta Local 

Government Area, with Parramatta’s population 3.6 per cent of 

the total population of the Sydney Metropolitan Area (2005) 

> average age of residents was 35.8 years, slightly younger than 

the NSW average (36.5 years) but equal to the Sydney average 

(2001) 

> 86,533 people are employed in the Parramatta LGA, with more 

than 38,000 people working in the Parramatta CBD. Of the 

total number of people who work in the LGA, some 15,103 are 

local residents (2001) 

> the number of employed persons who live in the Parramatta 

LGA is 72,112, with Parramatta’s unemployment rate 4.5 per 

cent, lower than both the state and national average (2005) 

> the median house price is $435,000 and the median unit price 

is $310,000 (2006) 

> rents for two bedroom units and three bedroom houses 

increased by 6.4 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively in the 

March Quarter 2006 

> Parramatta has 1,200 residents who identify as being of 

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent (2001) 

> 34 per cent of all dwellings in Parramatta are rented (2001), 

and of the total number of rented dwellings, the largest 

number are owned by the NSW Department of Housing. 


Proud Past 

 

Promising Outlook 

Home for hundreds of generations to Aboriginal people including 

the Burramattagal, a clan of the Dharug, Parramatta’s rich Aboriginal 

heritage is reflected in its name, official crest and the widespread 

use of Aboriginal designs in public art throughout the City. 

The ‘cradle of a nation’, Parramatta’s fertile alluvial soils saved the 

struggling British colony when the first successful crops were 

harvested in 1789 at Rosehill government farm. 

Selected as the site of Australia’s second oldest European 

settlement on 2 November 1788, Parramatta is home to some of 

the nation’s oldest buildings and has over 1000 heritage-listed 

buildings or sites, many which have national significance. 

Laid out in 1790, Parramatta quickly became the settlement of 

choice, with early Colonial Governors living in Parramatta Park’s 

Old Government House rather than the port of Sydney for the 

next 55 years. 

Australia’s oldest private dwelling – Elizabeth Farm (c.1793) and 

our oldest public building – Old Government House (c.1799) are 

both located in Parramatta. 

Parramatta’s 1881 town hall stands on the site of Australia’s first 

European marketplace, designated when Parramatta officially 

became a market town in 1812. 

Now part of the Church Street Mall, the market place was the site 

of the Colonial Government’s first ‘peace process’ in 1824, with 

feasting and blanket hand outs to local and regional Aboriginal 

people who had survived hostilities and disease. 

Established in 1861 the Borough of Parramatta was amalgamated 

in 1948 with Dundas, Ermington, Rydalmere and Granville 

councils to form the current City of Parramatta. 

In 2005 Parramatta was recognised by the NSW Government as 

the Capital of Western Sydney, Australia’s fastest growing region. 

> Due for completion in 2006, our Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan will define the 20 year course that ensures Parramatta lives 

up to Council’s vision of becoming the Leading City at the Heart of Sydney. 

> Parramatta will be revitalised over the next few years by the $1.4 billion Civic Place Redevelopment and 21st century Parramatta 

Justice Precinct. 

> Council will continue to work with business and other partners to market the city through promotion of the Parramatta First 

brand and the many advantages of investing in Sydney’s second CBD. 

> Promoting quality urban design and positioning Parramatta as a creative city and regional hub for Western Sydney is high on our list, 

as is progressing our Artists Studios. 

> Parramatta’s infrastructure will benefit from the investment of $28.2 million capital works upgrade of its footpaths, roads, 

streetlighting and neighbourhoods during 2006/07. 

> The upgrade of Council’s multi-storey car parks, residential parking schemes and on-street paid parking will improve access to the 

City and parking in general. 

> Making Council a more constructive and positive workplace will continue with the roll out of our Human Resources Plan and 

Internal Communications Plan, further improving our customer service. 

> Improving customer responsiveness via phone and email and optimising our new Councils Online computer technology to deliver 

effficiencies, remain a priority. 

> Upgrading our website and providing better integrated, more convenient online services will offer the community around the 

clock access to information, rate paying and Development Application tracking. 

> Finalising Council’s review of its Residential Development Strategy (RDS) in response to the State Government’s requirement that 

local councils accommodate Sydney's population growth, including preparation of a new Local Environment Plan. 

> Preparing and implementing a transport plan for the Parramatta Central Business District that helps unlock the economic and 

social potential of the City. 


07 


Getting to Know Council 

Getting to Know Council 

Our Vision 

Parramatta – the Leading City at the Heart 

of Sydney 

Our Purpose 

Delivering the best possible services to our community 

Our Values 

Behavioural 

> a supportive workplace 

> a safe and trusting environment 

> a cooperative team approach. 

Business 

> community focus and customer service 

> improving our results 

> value for money. 

08 

What We Do 

Councils provide an increasingly broad range of services to their 

communities, with Parramatta no exception. In addition to 

collecting garbage and recyclables and resurfacing local roads, 

Council looks after streetlighting, maintains parks and 

sportsgrounds and plans for emergencies, be they storm 

damage or a pandemic. 

‘Listen in’ to a book or a bilingual storytime? 

Our six libraries offer outreach services for the homebound, 

bilingual storytimes, HSC and retirement talks, and computer help 

for new residents. 

Want to hire a venue or try a round of golf? 

We hire out Council-owned venues for community events and 

manage one of the most attractive golf courses in Western Sydney. 

Need a helping hand for young and old? 

Our six childcare centres serve our youngest residents, while our 

meals on wheels, lawn mowing, carer and peer support services 

help older and disadvantaged members of our community. 

Looking for best value school holiday activities? 

We organise school holiday recreation activities and hold free 

family-friendly events which bring the community together 

in celebration. 

Looking for stimulation or a big night out? 

You can’t go past the great entertainment on offer at our 

Riverside Theatres Parramatta, as well as free exhibitions, displays 

and educational activities at the Parramatta Heritage and Visitor 

Information Centre. 


Where You Can Find Us 

Parramatta City Council Chambers 

Civic Place Parramatta 

9806 5020 

Parramatta City Council 

Head Office 

30 Darcy Street Parramatta 

9806 5055 

Parramatta Heritage and Visitor 

Information Centre 

346A Church St Parramatta 

8839 3311 

Riverside Theatres Parramatta 

Cnr Church St and Market St 

Parramatta 

8839 3399 

Woodville Golf Course 

118 Rawson Road Guildford 

9632 3582 

SWIMMING CENTRES 

Granville Swimming Centre 

Enid Avenue Granville 

9637 1593 

Parramatta Swimming Centre 

O’Connell Street Parramatta 

9630 3669 

COUNCIL DEPOTS 

Granville Depot 

Cnr Elizabeth and Hartington streets 

Morton Street Depot 

1 Morton Street, East Parramatta 

TOWN HALLS 

Parramatta Town Hall 

182 Church Street Mall Parramatta 

9806 5140 (bookings) 

Granville Town Hall 

10 Carlton Street Granville 

9806 5140 (bookings) 

Enid Ave Granville 

9637 1593 

CHILDCARE CENTRES 

Dundas Childcare Centre 

79 Calder Close Rydalmere 

9638 6866 

Ermington Possum Patch 

Childcare Centre 

12 Bartlett Street Ermington 

9638 2262 

Frances Fisk Childcare Centre 

64 The Avenue Granville 

9637 1580 

Jubilee Park Childcare Centre 

Jubilee Lane (off Marion Street) 

Harris Park 

9643 4468 

Northmead/Redbank 

Children’s Centre 

2A Arthur Phillip Park Redbank Road 

Northmead 

9630 6755 

Westfield Occasional 

Childcare Centre 

Westfield Parramatta 

Shopping Centre 

LIBRARIES 

Parramatta Central Library 

Civic Place Parramatta 

9806 5159 

Constitution Hill Library 

(previously Emma Crescent) 

20 Hollis St Toongabbie 

9896 2201 

Dundas Branch Library 

Sturt St (opp Telopea Public School) 

Dundas Valley 

9638 1146 

Ermington Library 

River Rd (behind Ermington 

Shopping Centre) 

Ermington 

9638 2270 

Granville Library 

8 Carlton St (next to Town Hall) 

Granville 

9637 4270 

Guildford Library 

Railway Terrace Guildford 

9632 6744 

Where You Can Find Us 

09 


Year in Review Calendar> 

Granville Swimming Centre 

Planning the City's future 

Keeping tabs on Parramatta’s dogs 

Year in Review Calendar 

10 

Parramatta's vibrant cafe and restaurant culture continues to expand. 

1 July Parramatta Lord Mayor Cr David Borger started setting 

Wednesday mornings aside for ‘Meet the Lord Mayor’ sessions 

with residents and business people. 

1-9 July Council staged the Sydney Indigenous Arts Festival at the 

Riverside Theatres as part of NAIDOC Week 2005. 

4 July Council's website launched an online tracking service for people 

lodging Development Applications to keep tabs on its status 

without visiting Council. 

10 July Granville Swimming Centre re-opens after a $10 million 

makeover and expansion. 

8 July Council introduced a 3D computer model to help local residents 

and architects view the impacts of proposed development on 

existing neighbourhoods. 

18 July Council amended its Local Environment Plan to make it easier for 

people to open local corner stores and build ‘Granny flats’ in 

residential areas. 

31 July Council celebrated the tenth anniversary of National Tree Day 

by creating a safe haven for Brown Quails living in Kendall 

Riverside Park. 

23 August The renamed Constitution Hill library re-opened to the public 

after major refurbishment and expansion. 

26-27 August Over 150 members of the community and key stakeholders took 

part in a two day Dreaming Parramatta Summit to develop a 

sustainable 20 year vision for Parramatta. 

27 September Council’s Home Support and Community Services Team 

celebrated 10 years of delivering innovative and essential services 

to its community. 

30 September Cr Borger re-elected as Lord Mayor of Parramatta at a Council 

meeting, with Cr Maureen Walsh re-elected as deputy. 

5 November Parramatta Spring, the Loy Krathong river festival and 

Celebrating Foundation Day were jointly celebrated during a 

spectacular day/night event in Central Parramatta. 


Natural bushland, native species Scenic walkways encourage exercise Keeping fit, keeping healthy Go ahead City celebrates its heritage 

21 November Parking meters installed in Civic Place, the first of 373 to cover 

the CBD, North Parramatta and a section of Harris Park as part of 

Parramatta's traffic management strategy. 

1 December Council’s annual lighting of the Town Hall and Christmas concert 

helped rekindle the spirit of Christmas. 

7 December Council entered a Development Agreement with Grocon 

Developments Pty Ltd for the Civic Place Redevelopment in the 

heart of Parramatta’s CBD. 

9 December Council's annual free Christmas lunch for senior citizens was held 

in Parramatta Town Hall. 

31 January Parramatta’s ‘Only Place to Be’ Summer events ended with a bang, 

with record crowds at Australia Day and the Chinese New Year. 

27 February Parramatta announces average Development Application 

processing times have almost halved after major efforts to 

address the backlog. 

3 March Council commenced a new battle to cut cigarette butt littering in 

Church Street in partnership with the Butt Littering Trust. 

13 March Council investigated sightings of platypuses in two creeks in 

the Parramatta Local Government Area. 

16 March Council commenced a review of Parramatta's Economic 

Development Board to ensure that it continued to drive the 

future of Parramatta. 

8 April Parramatta’s Golden Slipper Festival culminated in the annual 

AAMI Golden Slipper, the richest horserace for two year olds in 

the world, televised world wide. 

27 April Tanya Gadiel MP, State member for Parramatta announced 

$100,000 towards the establishment of artists studios and 

exhibition space in Parramatta. 

12 May Council's bold plans to turn the CBD into a hub for the arts was 

rewarded at the Local Government Cultural Awards with its 

Arts and Cultural Places Framework winning a major award. 

30 May Council released an image of what the Church Street Mall 

between George and Macquarie Streets would look like once 

re-opened to traffic, with a new children’s playground to be built 

opposite the town hall. 

30 May Council resumed its City of Trees program, on hold during 

Sydney’s severe drought. 

31 May Council started surveying business owners and operators about 

their views on doing business in Parramatta’s CBD. 

14 June Civic Place Redevelopment passed a key milestone with the 

$1.4 billion, three hectare project meeting the new rigorous 

Public Private Partnership (PPP) guidelines set by the Department 

of Local Government. 

Year in Review Calendar 

11 


Lord Mayor’s Message 

Burying the myth 

that Parramatta is 

predominantly a 

government town, 

the City is 

experiencing a significant upsurge 

in private sector industry and 

employment. The most dynamic 

example is our Civic Place 

Redevelopment, an ambitious 

project ratified by the State 

Government, with Council finalising 

its public private partnership 

with Grocon. 

12 


Lord Mayor’s Message 

This City, this Century 

I am pleased to report that in 2005/06 Parramatta reached 

landmark achievements in the transformation of the City into a 

dynamic and attractive place in which to live, work and invest. 

Economic hub of Western Sydney 

Following the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Strategy 

identifying the City as the central and economic hub of Western 

Sydney, Parramatta benefited from vital Government investment 

including major infrastructure funding of the new rail/bus 

interchange which opened in February 2006. 

Government staff relocating to Parramatta 

The burgeoning Justice Precinct is ahead of schedule, with the 

Metropolitan Children’s Court to open in November 2006, 

followed by other facilities. The State Government’s commitment 

to transferring significant government staff to Parramatta will be 

realised when the Attorney General’s staff relocation will bring 

1400 new workers to the City, with a further 1000 Commonwealth 

Bank staff members due to follow suit. 

Civic Place leads the way 

Construction also began this year on some landmark commercial 

developments, answering the rental demand for large, quality 

floor space. Indeed, burying the myth that Parramatta is 

predominantly a government town, the City is experiencing a 

significant upsurge in private sector industry and employment. 

The most dynamic example is the Civic Place Redevelopment, with 

Council finalising its private-public partnership with Grocon, the 

ambitious project ratified by the State Government. Parramatta is 

indebted to the industry of Councillors and their scrutiny and 

monitoring of one of NSW’s largest urban revitalisation project 

this century. 

Reviewing our Economic Development Board 

Council also achieved milestones in better running its own assets 

and improving our public realm. An extensive review of the old 

Parramatta Economic Development Board will produce a far more 

focused and efficient structure and strategy to promote and 

develop the economies of the City. 

Improving parking turnover 

Parking meters were installed in the Parramatta CBD to stimulate 

City activity with improved parking turnover, and to provide an 

income for improvements befitting a sophisticated city of this size. 

A review was also conducted to judge how the impact of meters 

could be adjusted. 

Delivering a creative City 

Council adopted its Arts Facilities and Cultural Places Framework 

as a far reaching arts plan for the City over the next ten years. 

Two awards from the Local Government and Shires Association 

recognised the extensive expertise and community consultation 

which underpins the plan. The State Government pledged support 

for an Artists Studio complex for both emerging and established 

artists, to open soon in the heart of the City. Parramatta is the 

only Council in NSW to run such a complex, as part of its vision to 

stimulate creative endeavour and industries in Western Sydney. 

Council is also exploring unlocking other sites to provide dance 

studios, rehearsal facilities and writers residencies. Young and 

creative people seeking culturally-enriched lives and work 

opportunities are beginning to discover that they need not leave 

Parramatta for the bright lights of inner Sydney. 

Listening to Parramatta 

The Council continues to enrich its democratic processes and 

extend the ways it interacts with and learns from its citizens. 

Ward-based Community Council Meetings were trialled this year, 

offering citizens a chance to observe meetings in their own ward 

as well participate in preceeding community meetings. 

The Residents’ Panel continues to inform Council’s policy and 

priorities as does my own regular weekly open door Lord Mayoral 

meetings with ratepayers, numbering 400 in 2005/06. 

Council and I are continuing to review new ways to access and 

hear what the community expects of us. Councillors too have 

devoted themselves to listening to residents, as well as attending 

a large number of workshops, meetings and briefing sessions 

within Council. I honour them for their service to Parramatta and 

their ability to pull together for the benefit of this great City. 

Parramatta, Sydney’s second CBD, deserves nothing less. 

Genneral Manager’s Report 

The tidal Parramatta River served as the 'highway' between the 1788 farming settlement of Parramatta and the Port of Sydney. 

13 

Cr David Borger 

Lord Mayor 




In 2005/06 we 

undertook extensive community 

consultation to finalise our 

Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan. 

On track for completion by the end 

of 2006 it underpins the social, 

environmental and economic 

wellbeing of the Parramatta of 

tomorrow and ensures its 

sustainability into the future. 

Operating Expenditure 

OPERATING EXPENDITURE BY PERCENTAGE OF 

TOTAL COUNCIL EXPENDITURE 

31% City Leadership and Management 

$38.30 million 

7% City Development 

$7.84 million 

15% Roads, Paths, Access 

and Flood Mitigation 

$18.68 million 

7% Regulatory $8.57 million 

12% Environment $14.6 million 

8% Community Care $9.51 million 

20% Culture and Leisure $24.95 million 

PROJECT EXPENDITURE CARRIED OVER TO NEXT YEAR 

15 

12 

9 

6 

3 

(millions) 

8.565 

7.635 

7.202 

12.540 

4.445 

2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 

Working towards a sustainable community 

I am pleased to report on a year of review, consolidation and new 

ways of operating that continue to improve the way that we plan 

and deliver our services. 

In 2005/06 we undertook extensive community consultation to 

finalise our Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan by the end of 

2006. This plan underpins Parramatta’s social, environmental and 

economic wellbeing and ensures its sustainability into the future. 

We conducted extensive surveys with our 1800 strong Residents’ 

Panel on the future of our neighbourhoods as part of the 

Residential Development Strategy. 

We redoubled our efforts to engage with our partners in the business, 

community and government sectors via our newly-established 

Economic Development Reference Panel, our not-for-profit sector 

survey and a series of collaborative agreements with the State 

Government. We surveyed shopkeepers and workers about proposed 

changes to Church Street Mall, and the needs of the retail sector. 

Internal reforms to increase capacity 

During 2005/06 we maintained focus on our Corporate Strategy 

2004 and continued to build our internal capacity. We 

restructured our Corporate Services Group to improve asset 

management, strengthen strategic and financial planning and to 

further develop our software systems. 

As part of our reforms we revamped our Community Capacity 

Building Team, created a Commissioning Support Unit to improve 

14 


our project management and delivery, and an Urban Design Team 

to shape the future look of our City and suburbs. 

Operational highlights 

We maintained our focus on our 32 external services including 

running childcare centres and libraries, providing meals on wheels 

while improving waste services to our expanding population. 

Most significantly we signed a Development Agreement with 

Grocon Development Pty Ltd in June 2006 and received confirmation 

that the project met the rigorous Public Private Partnerships 

guidelines set by the Department of Local Government. 

We developed our Aboriginal Family Support Service, expanded 

our Seniors Leisure and Learning Centre activities and celebrated 

10 years of providing home support to people in need, assisted by 

our community volunteers. Our response times to the community 

are improving and we also achieved pleasing reductions in processing 

times for Development Applications and Construction Certificates. 

We delivered on our major projects with a total of $28.25 million 

expended on capital works. Key projects included the re-opening 

of a key section of Church Street Mall, and the installation of 

parking meters to facilitate short-term parking. We resurfaced 50 

roads, completed two major cycleway sections, upgraded eight 

playgrounds and improved floodlighting at eight sportsgrounds. 

We also maintained our commitment to bushland management and 

waterways restoration with the help of 200 Bushcare volunteers. 

Some of our operational challenges included the detailed work 

required to finalise Parramatta’s Residential Development Strategy 

Stage 2; the impact of rising petrol prices; the demand for Community 

Care services far exceeding Council’s capacity to deliver; and the 

downturn in the building sector impacting DA and CC application fees. 

In particular, residents have told us that they are unhappy with the 

conditions of roads; footpaths; lighting in streets and car parks, with 

the condition of our bushland and creeks needing further investment. 

Financial highlights 

Council’s operating result after capital grants and contributions 

was a surplus of $4.8 million for 2005/06. We brought in the year 

end budget with an overall funds surplus of $150,000 after 

absorbing $4 million through operational efficiencies. Prudent 

financial management has enabled us to combat rising costs. Total 

project expenditure uncompleted in 2005/06 and carried forward 

to next year came to $4.4 million, with 87 per cent of these 

delayed projects due to circumstances outside Council’s control. 

This is best project delivery result Council has achieved to date. 

The State Government’s decision to grant us a rates increase of 

4.64 per cent for 2006/07 (on top of the CPI increase of 3.6 per 

cent), brought our total increase to 8.24 per cent. This means we 

will be able to spend an additional $1 million on roads, $1 million 

on footpaths and foreshore access, and $1 million on upgrades to 

our neighbourhood centres in 2006/07. This concentrates on the 

priority areas identified the previous year by our Residents’ Panel. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our hard working 

and dedicated staff who continue to make extra efforts to deliver 

the best possible services to our community. 

Organisational Highlights 

> to improve governance of the City, Council adopted a raft 

of new policies which govern the conduct of Councillors 

and staff to ensure that we are open and transparent in 

our dealings and behaviours 

> to improve operational efficiencies we have full operation 

of 43 of our 49 new software solutions under Councils 

Online in cooperation with four other NSW councils 

> to improve our DA processing times we introduced a City 

Trackers team and have provided a 24 hour tracking DA 

Online service. 

Organisational Challenges 

> increasing our ability to benchmark our costs and service 

delivery with the private sector 

> expending more on our bushland and waterways in 

keeping with community wishes and our Parramatta 

Twenty25 Strategic Plan 

> improving our operational efficiencies and service delivery 

by reviewing our City Services Group 

> creating an organisational culture which brings out the 

best in our staff 

> increasing resident satisfaction with our services. 


This annual report has been prepared in accordance with the 

2002 GRI Guidelines and represents a balanced and reasonable 

presentation of Council’s sustainability performance. 

15 

John Neish 

General Manager 


How Council Works 


How and when are Councillors elected? 

Every four years 15 Councillors are elected to serve the 

Parramatta community, representing each of the five wards of 

Arthur Phillip, Caroline Chisholm, Elizabeth Macarthur, Lachlan 

Macquarie and Woodville, as shown on the map on page 18. 

Parramatta’s Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor were elected by 

the Councillors to serve for 18 months, six longer than the normal 

12 month term. However, elected Lord Mayor Cr Julia Finn 

resigned on 21 April 2005 and Cr David Borger was subsequently 

elected as Lord Mayor on 6 May 2005, with his term running until 

15 September 2006. 

Who stands for Council? 

As in State Government elections, local government councillors 

identify as candidates of a registered political party or as an 

independent. Although elected on a ward basis, Councillors can be 

contacted on any matter before Council. Most Councillors 

perform their civic role on a part-time basis and are paid a 

modest remuneration to help compensate for the time they spend 

representing the community. 

What happens at Council meetings? 

During 2005/06 Councillors convened in the Civic Place Council 

Chamber for 22 ordinary and 5 special meetings. Their task was to 

determine policies, consider reports, assess matters of public 

interest such as major Development Applications, and annually 

adopt Council’s four-year management plan, including its budget. 

To keep abreast of all the issues, they are provided with detailed 

reports by Council staff. Chaired by the Lord Mayor, these 

meetings allow members of the public to see their Council in 

action with the exception of confidential items. Between Council 

meetings the Lord Mayor represents the elected Council. 

From May 2004 Council introduced a meeting cycle based on two 

Council meetings per month, together with monthly workshops 

and Program Panel meetings. Councillors also attend liaison groups, 

advisory committees, civic events and other activities, and obtain 

feedback and direction from constituents through community 

forums, constituent meetings and informal discussions. 

Community Council meetings 

Between May 2005 and June 2006, in an effort to bring Council 

closer to its community, we held five Community Council 

Meetings, one in each of Parramatta’s wards. The meetings 

consisted of a 'Community Forum' where a presentation was 

given on the relevant ward, followed by question time where local 

residents were given the opportunity to raise any issues of 

concern with Councillors and/or Council Staff. 

An Ordinary Council Meeting was then held at the completion of 

the 'Community Forum' so that residents could see the formal 

workings of a Council Meeting. 

The Community Forums proved successful and attracted between 

60 and 120 attendees. The meetings provided a great opportunity 

for Council to advise residents of upcoming projects. 

16 


In addition, positive feedback was received from many residents 

on the initiative to take Council to the public. Council has recently 

assessed the future of Community Council Meetings and while it 

resolved to discontinue the holding of Ordinary Council Meetings 

outside of its normal meeting venue, it has decided to hold annual 

‘Meet the Councillors Community Forums’ conducted by the 

relevant Ward Councillors, with staff in attendance as necessary. 

Supporting our Councillors 

As part of Getting Closer—a range of initiatives designed to 

enhance relationships and communication with our community— 

we focused on improving the responsiveness of our Lord Mayoral 

and Councillor support service. Parramatta’s Councillors were 

assisted by the Councillor Support Unit to carry out their daily 

civic duties. The administrative and secretarial support Councillors 

require in their day-to-day dealing with local constituents added 

value to their effectiveness. 

All Councillors received basic computer and email training, 

together with coaching in media skills, speech writing and local 

government financial issues to better equip them to 

professionally represent the community. Training conferences 

attended by Councillors included the Local Government 

Association of NSW Annual Conference; the 46th Annual 

Conference Floodplain Management Authorities of NSW; and the 

Local Government Managers Australia 2006 National Congress & 

Business Expo. 


Refer to page 201 re fees and expenses for Lord Mayor 

and Councillors, and overseas trips undertaken by Councillors. 

17 


Representing the Community 

Governance 

Councillor 

Julia 

Finn 

Arthur Phillip Ward 


Omar 

Jamal 


Chiang 

Xavier 

Lim 

TOONGABBIE 

WINSTON 

HILLS 

NORTHMEAD 

TELOPEA 

CARLINGFORD 

EASTWOOD 

EPPING 

Lord Mayor from April 2004 

– April 2005 

Deputy Lord Mayor 2002/04 

First elected 1999 

Member City Development Program 

Panel (attended 9 meetings) 

Attended 20 Council meetings and 

5 Special Council Meetings 

0414 190 202 

jfinn@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Member Roads, Footpaths, Access 

& Flood Mitigation Program Panel 

from June 2004 

(attended 6 meetings) 



0431 506 053 

ojamal@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Member Regulatory Program Panel 





0427 277 299 

clim@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

PENDLE HILL 

WENTWORTHVILLE 

WESTMEAD 

PARRAMATTA 

HARRIS 

PARK 

CAMELLIA 

ROSEHILL 

DUNDAS 

RYDALMERE 

DUNDAS 

VALLEY 

ERMINGTON 

18 


Pierre 

Esber 

Deputy Lord Mayor 2001/02 


Member Regulatory Program Panel 





0414 190 204 

pesber@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Lachlan Macquarie Ward 


Lorraine 

Wearne 

Lord Mayor 2000/01 

1st female Lord Mayor of Council 


Member Culture & Leisure Program 

Panel (attended 7 meetings) 


no Special Council Meetings 

Attended 1 Central Parramatta 

Planning Committee meeting 

0416 035 817 

lwearne@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Andrew 

Wilson 


Member City Leadership & 

Management Program Panel from 

June 2004 (attended 3 meetings) 



0414 190 205 

andrewwilson@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

> 

> 

GUILDFORD 

MERRYLANDS 

Arthur Phillip Ward 

– named after the Colony’s first 

Governor (1788-92) 

Lachlan Macquarie Ward 

– named after the Colony’s fifth 

Governor (1810-1821) 

GRANVILLE 

SOUTH 

GRANVILLE 

> 

> 

> 

Elizabeth Macarthur Ward 

– named after the wife of John 

Macarthur, who together with 

her husband, helped pioneer 

Australia’s merino sheep industry 

Caroline Chisholm Ward 

- named after an army wife who 

looked after the interests of 

female immigrants 

Woodville Ward 

- named after Woodville Road, a 

major road intersecting the Great 

Western Highway 



John 

Chedid 



Panel from June 2004 




0431 506 055 

jchedid@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Elizabeth Macarthur Ward 


David 

Borger 

Lord Mayor from May 2005 

Lord Mayor 1999/2000 




Ex Officio member of all Program 

Panels from May 2005 




Planning Committee meeting and 

1 delegated authority meeting 

9806 5067 

dborger@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Anita 

Brown 


Member Culture & Leisure Program 





0431 506 051 

abrown@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Paul B 

Barber 


Member Community Care Program 





0414 190 208 

pbarber@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Caroline Chisholm Ward 


Brian 

Prudames 


Member Community Care Program 


(attended 1meeting) 


both Special Council Meetings 

0431 506 054 

Woodville Ward 


Chris 

Worthington 


Member Roads, Footpaths, Access 

& Flood Mitigation Program Panel 





0414 603 603 

cworthington@parracity.nsw.gov.au 

Governance 


Paul 

Garrard 


Tony Issa 

OAM 


Maureen 

Walsh 


Lord Mayor 95/96, 98/99, 02/04 

Deputy Lord Mayor 91/92, 92/93 

Member City Leadership & 

Management Program Panel from 

June 2004 (attended 4 meetings) 




Planning Committee meeting 

0414 504 504 

pgarrard@parracity.nsw.gov.au 


Deputy Lord Mayor 95/96, 99/00 

Member Environment Program 

Panel from June 2004 (attended 4 

meetings) 



0414 333 300 

Deputy Lord Mayor from April 2004 


Member Environment Program 

Panel from June 2004 (attended 8 

meetings) 



0416 035 819 

mwalsh@parracity.nsw.gov 

19 


How Council is Organised 

20 


Community 

Lord Mayor & Councillors 

Michael Quirk 

Manager 4 

Service Audit 

and Review 

> 

General Manager 

>> > 

Code of 

Conduct 

Committee 

> 

John Neish 

1 

(from August 2003) 

Bachelor of Applied Science 

John’s career spans the private, community and public sectors, including 21 

years in local government, specialising in community services, corporate and 

change management. 

In recent times John worked for the Audit Commission UK as Head of 

Performance in southern England where he was at the forefront of driving 

public service reform across 310 government authorities. 

On his arrival at Parramatta City Council, John embarked on an ambitious 

program of change to ensure Council's services are relevant to local people and 

deliver the best value for money. 

Residents’ 

Panel< 

David Dekel 

Manager 5 

Executive 

Support Office 

> 

Internal Inputs to Council 

< 

Program 

Panels 

> 

< 

External Inputs to Council 

Advisory 

Committees 

Central 


Planning 

Committee 

Civic Place 

Redevelopment 

> 

< 

Design 

Review 

Panels 

Group Manager Group Manager Group Manager 

> 

> 

> 

Stephen Kerr 

Corporate Services Group 

(from April 2006) 

Bachelor of Arts, Urban and Regional Planning, 

Master of Commerce 

Stephen brings to Council 18 years’ experience in six 

local government organisations where he served in a 

variety of roles focusing on planning, and place and 

outcomes management. Stephen moved to Corporate 

Services from Council’s Development Control business 

unit. The position of Group Manager Corporate Services was held by Peter 

Conroy from July 2005 to February 2006. It was then filled by Illana Halliday 

from February 2006 to April 2006 prior to Stephen Kerr taking up the position. 

Illana Halliday 

Outcomes and Development Group 

(from October 2002) 

Diploma of Applied Science, Bachelor of Business 

Illana brought to Council over 20 years’ experience 

in nursing, health administration and system reform 

at the senior public sector level. 

Serving more than a decade in the Senior Executive 

Service, Illana has taken a lead role in sector-wide 

reforms to introduce outcome management. Having 

successfully introduced outcome management to local government and place 

management to two councils, she continues to lead staff focused on 

delivering outcomes for the community. 

Gayle Sloan 

City Services Group 

(from June 2004) 

Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate 

Certificate in Legal Practice 

Gayle came to Council with experience in a number 

of management positions in local and state 

government, including Director, Asset Management 

and Compliance with the City of Sydney. Prior to 

this role, Gayle spent five years as an advisor to 

two NSW State politicians. 

2 

3 


Corporate Services Group 

> 

Manager 

Darren Wood 

Manager 

Community 

Engagement 

6 

Chris Lawlor 

Manager 

Stategic Assets 

Outcomes and Development Group 

Jenny Fett 

Manager 

Finance 

7 

Simon Watts 

Manager 

Information 

8 

Anne Haine 

Acting Manager 

Human 

Geoff King 

Manager 

Strategic 

9 

Systems 

Resources 

Business Improvement 

Council's Senior Management 

Team (SMT) is made up of 

the General Manager, the 

three Group Managers and 

17 Business Unit Managers. 


> 

Manager 

Andrew Woodley 

Manager 

Outcomes 

and Place 

Marcelo Occhiuzzo 

Manager 

Land Use and 

Transport 

Louise Connolly 

Manager 

Development 

Services 

3 

11 

10 10 

1 

9 

4 

2 

8 

5 

13 

7 

6 

12 

City Services Group 

> 

Manager 

Rod Cook 

Manager 

Technical 

Services 

11 

Tim Dale 

Manager 

Civil Operations 

Tom O'Hanlon 

Manager 

Environment 

and Health 

12 

Neville Davis 

Manager 

Open Space 

and Recreation 

13 

Vikki King 

Manager 

Social and Community 

Services 

Roger Henshaw 

Manager 

Information 

and Library 

Robert Love 

Director 


Riverside Theatres 

21 


How We Plan 

Planning for Now, 

Planning for the Future 

Planning Framework 

The services we deliver to our community are guided by a 

hierarchy of strategies and plans, ranging from strategic or longterm 

visionary plans down to ‘grass roots’ implementation plans. 

Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan 

Currently in draft form, our long-term Parramatta Twenty25 

Strategic Plan charts the way forward for the City over the next 

20 years, responding to and managing the challenges that we and 

our external partners must address in order to ensure the City’s 

social, economic and environmental sustainability. 

The plan addresses seven destinations that we aspire to and 

strategies to reach them in order to make Parramatta a great 

place to live and work. Incorporating community feedback, our 

strategic plan is underpinned by the concept of sustainability and 

coincides with development of the NSW Government’s 

Metropolitan Strategy, in association with the NSW State Plan. 

Parramatta Twenty25 influences Council’s Corporate Strategy 2004 

and feeds into our Corporate Strategy Implementation Plan and 

Parramatta City Council Implementation Plan. 

Corporate Strategy 2004 

The Corporate Strategy captures Council’s organisational commitment 

to demonstrating leadership and good governance. It provides our 

road map and implementation plan for the next 15 years as we 

strive to deliver the best possible services to our community. 

Management Plan 

Throughout 2005/06 Parramatta City Council was guided by 

its Management Plan 2005/06 – 2008/09, our key corporate 

planning document. This five year ‘rolling’ plan is informed by 

our Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan whose strategies and 

priorities drive Council’s actions. The Management Plan sets out 

our key Programs, including their purpose, objectives, proposed 

highlights for the year, as well as budget and expenditure. It also 

clearly sets out the measures and resident satisfaction indicators 

that will be used to measure Council performance in the coming 

year. Our Management Plan is reviewed each year with the final 

version posted on Council’s website. 

Unit Plans 

Unit planning links what our business units are doing with 

Council’s vision, objectives and functions across other units. Such 

planning aims to ensure Council’s services progress in harmony 

towards common goals as outlined in our Corporate Strategy and 

Strategic Plan. The alignment will help us bring about best value 

by giving priority to our community in our decision-making 

and processes. It also allows us to highlight opportunities for 

crossover support between units, and to facilitate more effective 

tracking, review and improvement while motivating staff to reach 

key targets. As such the unit plan is ultimately how each business 

unit and their service manager’s performance will be assessed, 

and identifies joint priorities, challenges and opportunities. 

< 

For the whole of Parramatta 

Environmental 

Social 

Economic 

> 

> 

> 

Parramatta Twenty25 Stategic Plan 

Strategies and Priorities 

Reporting Influence 

drive Council’s actions 

22 


The 

For Parramatta City Council 

Strategic Management Framework 

Corporate 

Strategy 2004 

Council Strategic 

Policies 

> 

Program Panels set priorities in alignment 

with Council’s Strategic Policies 

> 

Corporate Strategy 

Implementation 

Plan 


City Council 

Implementation Plan 

Actions 

Actions 

Management Plan 

Programs 

Annual Budget 

> 

Budgets and 

responsibility 

Operational 

Policies 

Unit Plans 

How We Plan 

< 

State of the City 

Report 

Reports on the economic, 

social and environmental 

wellbeing of the City for 

the year ending 30 June 

Reporting 

Implementation Plan 

Reported by: 

> Place 

> Issue 

> Program 

> Responsibility 

Reporting 

Quarterly Review 

Council’s progress report 

to the community at the 

end of September, 

December, March and June 

Annual Report 

Council’s annual report to 

the community for the 

year ending 30 June 

Program Panels 

review performance 

< 

23 


Our Roadmap to the Future 


Our Corporate Strategy identifies a 

range of key result areas and 

corresponding destinations that we, 

as an organisation, wish to achieve. 

Its accompanying document, the 

Corporate Strategy Implementation 

Plan, is a high level document that 

spans organisational corporate 

priorities and lists a range of actions 

over a five-year horizon. 

Council’s Corporate Strategy 2004 was developed and is being 

used as a road map to equip the organisation with the necessary 

systems, processes and technology to support community 

expectations and deliver the best possible services to the community 

into the future. The strategy was completed in November 2004, 

with 2005/06 the first full financial year of its implementation. 

Our Corporate Strategy identifies a range of key result areas and 

corresponding destinations that we, as an organisation, wish to 

achieve. Its accompanying document, the Corporate Strategy 

Implementation Plan, is a high level document that spans 

organisational corporate priorities and lists a range of actions 

over a five-year horizon. 

For 2005/06 we listed 54 actions for completion, commencement 

or continuation, with set milestones to be achieved throughout 

the year. Of these, 40 (74 per cent) were successfully completed 

or had milestones completed where the project was a 

continuing project. Of the 14 incomplete actions, 

five of them were purposely deferred for a period 

of 12 months or more, as part of the review 

of individual projects. 

Our Corporate Strategy 2004 will be 

be reviewed in 2006/07. 

24 

Artist’s impression of the Parramatta Justice Precinct, 

due for completion in 2008. 


Highlights for 2005/06 

included: 

> review and development of a new Code of Conduct, Code 

of Meeting Practice and Civic Office Expenses Policy 

> review and updating of Council’s policy register 

> completion of a review of the Corporate Services Group 

> review and continued improvement to support services to 

Councillors and the Lord Mayor 

> expansion of Council’s Residents’ Panel to 1,800 

local residents 

> continued roll out of Council’s Human Resources Plan 

> improvements to the Customer Contact Centre and its 

response to the thousands of incoming calls 

> continued implementation of Council’s Internal 

Communications Plan 

> continued commitment to reducing Council’s 

environmental impacts through implementation of an inhouse 

environmental management system 

> improvements to the capacity and functionality of 

Council’s Geographic Information System 

During 2005/06 our achievements were delivered despite the major 

disruption of the Corporate Services Group review. This reform 

process introduced new systems, structures and staff in 2005/06 

which became an important year to consolidate and establish the 

capacity to deliver on important Corporate Strategy priorities. 

One constraint that has affected our change program was the 

non delivery of the anticipated final software products and 

systems of our Councils Online project. While we are close to the 

receipt of the final products, the enormous scale and complexity 

of this project over a ten-year period, in partnership with four 

other NSW councils, continues to be an important investment for 

the organisation. We are working closely with our syndicate 

partners and the system provider to achieve the set deliverables 

through an agreed timetable. These software systems relate to a 

new production system for Council’s business papers, an asset 

management system, a new budgeting tool and a business 

information system. 

The majority of actions that were planned but are yet to be 

completed have been re-scheduled for 2006/07 and beyond, as 

part of separate project plans. 

In order to ensure that all the key result areas, strategies and 

actions maintain relevance and currency, a review of the entire 

Corporate Strategy is planned for completion in 2006/07. 

However, there are still some important corporate priorities set for 

action while the review is being conducted. 

For 2006/07 these include: 

> clarifying our future destinations and bringing alive our 

Parramatta Twenty25 Strategic Plan 

> expanding our customer service project to be even more 

responsive to customer needs 

> getting more out of our new software systems and the 

Councils Online project through better reporting 

> further developing a healthy industrial relations and human 

resources systems 

> improving our organisational culture 

The Corporate Strategy and associated implementation plan can 

be viewed on Council’s website. 


> improvements to the development of consistent, highquality 

Council publications, brochures and other 

information, through the implementation of an updated 

Corporate Identity branding project 

Located on the site of Australia's first official market place, Parramatta 

Town Hall celebrated its 125th birthday in 2005. 

25 

> continued roll out and implementation of new software 

systems and modules through the Councils Online 

program, in partnership with four other NSW Councils. 


How we Measure, 

How we Improve our Service Delivery 

Parramatta City Council Organisational Health Check 

Over the past two years Parramatta City 

Council has been reviewing its key 

performance indicators – our Measures – 

to ensure that they are not only 

meaningful but accurately recorded 

from year to year across Council. 

Such Measures allow us to record 

whether we are moving forward, 

backward or holding ground in our effort 

to deliver the best possible services to our 

community, which is our purpose. 

For this reason we are unable to provide 

five year data for 2005/06 except in the 

cases where original Measures 

were retained. 

So how does Parramatta City Council measure its performance? 

Having developed a tiered set of strategic and corporate plans and 

strategies, we are now better placed to monitor the progression 

towards our desired Destinations (where we are heading). 

This year a Supplementary State of the Environment Report 

2005/06 has been prepared, and separately reported. In 2006/07 

this will be replaced by a State of the City Report that will address 

broader measures in alignment with Council’s seven destinations. 

In relation to Program delivery, Council has identified a number of 

Program Measures which have been reported under each Program. 

We also measure our service delivery by Programs (how we are 

doing) and the year’s performance across Economic, Social, 

Environmental and Corporate ‘bottom lines’ (how healthy the 

organisation is). 

To measure this performance the following monitoring and reporting framework has been prepared for Parramatta City Council. 

Area Reporting Type of Report 

Parramatta Twenty25 Development of Quality of Life Indicators that measure the State of the City (incorporating 

Strategic Plan Destinations progress towards the Destinations identified for the City the State of the Environment) 

Program Delivery Development of Program Measures which identify the key outputs Annual Report 

by Council in meeting the Programs 

Quarterly Reviews 

Unit Delivery Service level performance Measures Business Plan 

Organisational Health Check Measures on the health of the organisation and the impact Annual Report 

Council services have on social, environment and economic factors. 

Collecting internal and external quantitative and qualitative 

indicators provides us with a two-way assessment of how well we 

are delivering our services to the community. Refer to the relevant 

Program reporting in this Annual Report for the details of these 

Measures and how we are progressing. pp40-117 

26 


Working towards a triple bottom line 

For the first time, we are reporting our organisational health under a ‘triple bottom line’ framework. Together with our Corporate Wellbeing 

Measures, they reflect how healthy Parramatta City Council is and the impact it is having on the rest of Parramatta. Council’s organisational 

‘health check’ report card encapsulates the year’s performance across our Corporate, Economic, Environmental and Social ‘bottom lines’. 

What do we mean by Corporate wellbeing? 

These Measures indicate the corporate performance of our internal 

operations and how effective we are in managing the organisation. 

PERCENTAGE OF THE 

PREVIOUS FINANCIAL 

YEAR’S PROJECTS BUDGET 

REVOTED TO THE NEXT 

FINANCIAL YEAR. 

Positive downward trend 

reflects increasing 

organisational capacity to 

complete projects and a 

reduction in revoted funds 

that could otherwise have 

been used elsewhere in the 

organisation. 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

(%) 

23.14% 

19.75% 

13.82% 

18.43% 

12.96% 

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

What do we mean by Economic wellbeing? 

These Measures indicate the economic performance of the 

organisation and how we manage our finances. 

RATIO OF CURRENT 

ASSETS TO CURRENT 

LIABILITIES, INDICATING 

OUR ABILITY TO MEET 

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS. 

For every $1 of current 

liabilities for 2005/06, we 

had $2.92 to meet 

obligations such as 

payment for goods and 

services. 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

(ratio) 

3.31:1 

5.51:1 

actual 

4.43:1 

2.94:1 

required 

2.92:1 

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

STATUTORY OPERATING 

RESULT AGAINST 

ORIGINAL BUDGET. 

Compares the amount 

provided in the original 

budget, not including 

revisions during the year, 

with the actual final net 

result for ordinary services 

plus capital revenue and 

expenditure. 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

(millions) 

-2 

1,312,000 

9,056,000 

-292,000 

7,867,000 

budget 

760,000 

6,732,000 

3,372,000 

6,932,000 

actual 

3,285,000 

4,787,000 

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

Parramatta City Council Organisational Health Check 

PERCENTAGE OF PROJECT 

MILESTONES MET OR 

WHOSE VARIANCES 

COULD BE EXPLAINED IN 

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. 

A pleasing improvement in 

projects either completed 

on time or held up by 

factors beyond Council’s 

control, above target 

of 80%. 

100 

80 

60 

40 

20 

(%) 

79% 

82% 

04/05 05/06 

PERCENTAGE OF 

REQUIRED AND ACTUAL 

MAINTENANCE COSTS 

AGAINST THE ‘AT COST’ 

VALUE OF OUR ASSETS. 

The percentage of how 

much we spent on 

maintaining assets and 

how much needs to be 

spent to maintain the 

assets in a satisfactory 

condition, as a portion of 

their ‘at cost’ value. 

2.5 

2.0 

1.5 

1.0 

0.5 

(%) 

1.25% 

1.09% 

0.93% 

0.68% 

actual 

0.86% 

0.66% 

0.85% 

2.06% 

required 

1.49% 

2.16% 

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

27 


What do we mean by Environment wellbeing? 

These Measures indicate the impact of Council’s activities on the 

environment including energy, waste and water. 

What do we mean by Social wellbeing? 

These Measures indicate the social performance of Council, in 

particular how we value and support our staff. 

Parramatta City Council Corporate Measures 

PERCENTAGE CHANGE 

FROM 2003/04 BASELINE 

OF 4098 TONNES OF C02 

EMITTED BY COUNCIL’S 

HIGH ENERGY 

CONSUMING BUILDINGS. 

We recorded a slight 

reduction due to energy 

saving measures introduced 

in Council’s Darcy Street 

administration building and 

the Central Library. 



OF 2,160 TONNES, 

EMITTED BY COUNCIL’S 

MOTOR VEHICLE FLEET. 

The 1.3% emissions rise 

reflects an increase in fleet 

vehicle numbers. To offset 

the rise Council is providing 

more smaller-engined 

vehicles and investigating 

the Greenfleet program. 

5000 

4000 

3000 

2000 

1000 

(tonnes) 

2500 

2000 

1500 

1000 

500 

(tonnes) 

+7.5% 

-2.6% 

4098 

4405 

3993 

03/04 04/05 05/06 

+0.6% 

+1.3% 

2160 

2174 

2188 

03/04 04/05 05/06 

PERCENTAGE OF 

COUNCIL’S MOTOR 

VEHICLE FLEET POWERED 

BY FOUR CYLINDER OR 

HYBRID ENGINES. 

New light commercial 

vehicles are no longer 

available in four cylinder 

models which means that 

replacement vehicles are six 

cylinder vehicles. 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

(%) 

28.7% 

27.2% 

04/05 05/06 

PERCENTAGE OF 

BUDGETED FULL-TIME 

EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES 

THAT LEFT COUNCIL. 

The departure figure was 

higher than eight per cent 

target due to a review of 

the Corporate Services 

Group, re-alignment of its 

services, as well as a 

smaller review of the 

Development Services Unit. 

AVERAGE DAYS SICK 

LEAVE ABSENCE PER 

PERMANENT FULL-TIME 

EMPLOYEE. 

This represents a trend in 

the desired direction and is 

within the target range of 

8.0 or lower. 

20 

15 

10 

5 

(%) 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

(days) 

12.5% 

8.0% 

17.43% 

18.4% 

02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

7.60 days 

7.50 days 

7.96 days 

6.02 days 

02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 

28 



OF 91,321 KILOLITRES OF 

WATER USED BY KEY 

COUNCIL PROPERTIES. 

Increased golf course water 

usage related to the 

drought contributed to the 

rise, as did major leaks in 

the Parramatta Swimming 

Centre’s main pools. 

100000 

80000 

60000 

40000 

20000 

(kilolitres) 

-17.1% 

+8.6% 

91,321 

75,693 

99,178 

03/04 04/05 05/06 



OF 13.26 TONNES OF 

WASTE AND RECYCLABLES 

COLLECTED FROM 

COUNCIL’S 

ADMINISTRATION 

BUILDING. 

While garbage waste 

tonnage remained steady, 

paper and co-mingled 

recycling have fallen*. 

20 

15 

10 

5 

(%) 

13.26 

13.26 0.0% 

GARBAGE (PUTRESCIBLE) WASTE 

18.55 

11.85 -36.11% 

PAPER RECYCLING 

3.25 

3.23 -0.6% 

CO-MINGLED RECYCLING 

04/05 05/06 04/05 05/06 04/05 05/06 

38% of residents were satisfied or 

very satisfied with the management of 

Council by its Councillors, compared 

to 40% in the previous survey. 

2006 

2005 

VERY DISSATISFIED 

3% 

DISSATISFIED 

14% 

NEITHER DISSATISFIED 

NOR SATISFIED 

34% 

SATISFIED 

33% 

VERY SATISFIED 

5% 

* The 2004/05 result was based on a 24 hour assessment compared to a week long audit in 2005/06. 

*12% of those surveyed indicated Don’t Know/Can’t Say 


Staff profile at 30 June 2006 

TOTAL STAFF WORK 

HOURS LOST IN FORMAL 

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 

DISPUTES. 

This figure reflects 

Council’s commitment to 

working collaboratively 

with unions to resolve 

issues, and is an indicator 

of the effective functioning 

of Council’s Consultative 

Committee. 

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL 

STAFF LABOUR COSTS 

SPENT ON LEARNING AND 

DEVELOPMENT. 

The rising trend reflects 

Council’s commitment to 

resourcing its staff and 

building internal capacity. 

5.0 

4.0 

3.0 

2.0 

1.0 

(hours) 

2.5 

2.0 

1.5 

1.0 

0.5 

(%) 

No hours lost 

04/05 05/06 

1.93% 

2.32% 

04/05 05/06 

NUMBER OF STAFF WHO 

IDENTIFY AS A PERSON 

FROM AN ABORIGINAL OR 

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER 

BACKGROUND. 

Council is an equal 

opportunity employer and 

encourages workforce 

participation which reflects 

the demographics of the 

wider community. 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

(staff) 

6 

05/06 

AGE GROUP 

15 -19 

20 - 24 

25 - 34 

35 - 44 

45 - 54 

55 - 59 

60 - 64 

65 & OVER 

TOTAL 

GENDER 

Female 

Male 

TOTAL 

NUMBER OF 

EMPLOYEES 

1 

31 

170 

204 

195 

82 

38 

13 

734 

NUMBER OF 

EMPLOYEES 

324 

410 

734 

YEARS AT 

COUNCIL 

< 5 

5 - 10 

11 - 15 

16 - 20 

21 - 25 

> 25 

TOTAL 

EMPLOYMENT 

STATUS 

Full-Time 

Part-Time 

Temporary 

TOTAL 

NUMBER OF 

EMPLOYEES 

364 

143 

82 

77 

32 

36 

734 

NUMBER OF 

EMPLOYEES 

618 

79 

37 

734 

A total of 84 per cent of Council’s staff are full-time and 44 per cent are female. 

4.3 per cent of Council’s staff are aged 24 or under, 23.1 per cent in the 25-34 

bracket, 27.7 per cent in the 35-44 bracket, 26.5 per cent aged 45-54 and 

18.1 per cent over 55. 49.5 per cent of employees have been employed by Council 

for less than five years. 

Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) 

Our second Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) survey had a higher 

response rate than our 2005 survey with 606 respondents as compared to 497 

the previous year. Many teams showed an improvement reflecting the work 

that has gone into developing more constructive team cultures. The overall 

result showed a slight reduction in the self-actualising style and slight 

increase (not statistically significant) in the avoidance style. It reflects a year of 

change, including a review of the Corporate Services Group. Changing a 

culture is a challenging goal, rarely achieved in a short time frame. Council is 

committed to a constructive culture and will keep at it. 

Explainer Text: This circumplex graph can be compared to Council’s workplace 

culture as benchmarked in June 2005. The more constructive styles our staff 

develop, the more we will improve our customer service and value for money. 

Parramatta City Council Corporate Measures 

53% of residents were satisfied or 

very satisfied with the management of 

Council by Council staff, compared to 

54% in the previous survey. 

2006 

2005 


3% 

DISSATISFIED 

8% 


NOR SATISFIED 

27% 

SATISFIED 

43% 


10% 

54% of residents were satisfied 

or very satisfied with the level of 

Council’s services, compared to 

53% in the previous survey. 

2006 

2005 


4% 

DISSATISFIED 

14% 


NOR SATISFIED 

21% 

SATISFIED 

42% 


12% 

*The dark circle 

represents the 

average of all private 

and public companies 

29 

*9% of those surveyed indicated Don’t Know/Can’t Say *7% of those surveyed indicated Don’t Know/Can’t Say 


How We Manage our Finances 

30 

How we Manage our Finances 

FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT 

Rates and Annual Charges Revenue 

Other Operating Revenue 

Capital Revenue 

TOTAL REVENUE 

Operating Expenses 

Borrowing Costs 

TOTAL EXPENSES 

NET OPERATION RESULT 

Capital Expenditure 

Financial Position at the end of the year 

Total Assets 

Total Liabilities 

Total Equity 

Unrestricted Investments 

01/02 

$'000 

64,213 

30,894 

10,106 

105,213 

94,582 

1,574 

96,156 

9,057 

22,022 

893,550 

56,570 

836,980 

8,359 

02/03 

$'000 

66,667 

32,308 

11,044 

110,019 

100,334 

1,818 

102,152 

7,867 

35,065 

944,427 

99,580 

844,847 

8,052 

03/04 

$'000 

69,732 

38,413 

7,793 

115,938 

105,348 

3,858 

109,206 

6,732 

55,595 

977,934 

126,355 

851,579 

12,584 

04/05 

$'000 

74,576 

42,844 

7,854 

125,274 

112,870 

5,472 

118,342 

6,932 

47,056 

981,252 

125,949 

855,303 

13,619 

05/06 

$'000 

78,565 

40,785 

7,891 

127,241 

116,977 

5,477 

122,454 

4,787 

28,251 

987,016 

126,926 

860,090 

13,319 

About these Results 

Operating Revenue and Operating Expenses 

Council's revenues and expenses have increased predominantly as a result of inflation and the 

growing needs of Sydney's second CBD which is currently undergoing revitalisation. Community 

expectations are also rising, as is the need to find revenue sources to fund the demand for 

increased and improved service delivery to our business, governmental, not-for-profit and 

community sectors. 

Borrowing Costs 

Our borrowing costs have increased to fund Parramatta’s Civic Place Redevelopment project. These 

borrowings have been used to purchase properties destined to be demolished to make way for the 

three hectare redevelopment. The borrowing costs to service these loans are offset by the rental 

income from these properties and the interest earned on the unexpended component of these 

loans. It is anticipated that these loans will be repaid once the Civic Place Redevelopment begins. 

Council still maintains its debt service levels at 7.55 per cent, well below the industry benchmark 

of 10 per cent. 

Capital Expenditure 

Capital expenditure has fluctuated in recent years. Abnormal increases in 2003/04 and 2004/05 

were once again the direct result of property purchases for the Civic Place Redevelopment project. 

Total Assets 

The community’s assets include new infrastructure such as the Doyle Playing Ground’s water 

recycling and irrigation plant and long-standing assets such as our historic Granville and 

Parramatta town halls. The value of our assets has steadily risen. 

Total Liabilities 

Our liabilities include things such as loans, amounts payable to suppliers and contractors that are 

outstanding, as well as amounts owing to employees in the form of leave entitlements. The figures 

show that the amount we owe has remained relatively steady over the past three years. 

Total Equity 

We calculate our equity by subtracting what the community owes from what the community 

owns to reflect our community’s net worth. Council’s Equity (Retained Earnings) has steadily risen 

as we increase our core asset base. 

Unrestricted Investments 

Increases in our Unrestricted Investments (cash and investments not tied by future commitments) 

shows that Council's levels of liquidity remain consistently adequate and reflects prudent financial 

management. 


WHERE THE DOLLARS CAME FROM 

REVENUES BY TYPE FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 

WHERE THE DOLLARS WENT 

EXPENSES BY TYPE FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 

Interest & Investment Revenue 4% 

Grants & Contributions Provided 

for Operating Purposes 10% 

Materials & Contracts 18% 

Depreciation and 

Amortisation 18% 

User Charges & Fees 9% 

Rates & Annual 

Charges 61% 

About these graphs (Income) 

Grants & Contributions 

Provided for Capital 

Purposes 6% 

Other Revenues 10% 

Rates, charges and contributions are the principal sources that provide Council’s dollars. Grants 

and contributions provided for capital purposes include contributions from the development sector 

for the future improvement of community infrastructure such as community facilities, open space 

and improvements to roads and footpaths. 

Borrowing Costs 4% 

Employee Benefits 

& On-costs 41% 

About these graphs (Expenditure) 

Net Loss & Disposal 

of Assets 1% 

Other Expenses 18% 

The dollars we spend predominantly go towards the provision of community services, regulatory 

activities protection of the environment, including waterways, parks, waste management, and 

maintenance of infrastructure assets. Services include childcare, home support, car parks, road 

construction and maintenance, running swimming pools, libraries, the Riverside Theatres, the 

Parramatta Heritage and Visitor Information Centre and other culture and leisure activities. 


CAPITAL EXPENDITURE BY ASSET TYPE 

Plant & Equipment 10% 

Library Books 2% 

Stormwater Drainage 13% 

Community Land 15% 

Land Improvements 5% 

Buildings 12% 

About these graphs (Capital Expenditure) 

Council’s largest capital outlays continue to be for roads, bridges and footpaths, followed by the 

purchase of community land. Significant projects relating to stormwater drainage and waterways 

improvements, purchase of buildings, plant and equipment were also completed. Highlights include 

refurbishment of the Emma Crescent Library (now Constitution Hill), Parramatta Artist Studios, 

extensions to the Parramatta Valley Cycleway, domain enhancements, the Harris Park skatepark, 

as well as sports and playground improvements. 

Roads, Bridges, 

Footpaths 36% 

Other Structures 7% 

31 


How we Manage our Finances 

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 

Financial Health Check 


The Local Government Managers Association (LGMA) Financial Health Check provides a consistent 

way for councils to report key financial ratios that provide indicators of financial health and 

sustainability. The results indicate that Parramatta City Council has a sound financial position. 

UNRESTRICTED CURRENT RATIO 

2.45 

2.40 

2.35 

2.30 

2.25 

2.20 

Year Ended 

June 2002 

Year Ended 

June 2003 

Year Ended 

June 2004 

Year Ended 

June 2005 

Year Ended 

June 2006 

RATE COVERAGE RATIO 

62.00% 

61.50% 

61.00% 

60.50% 

60.00% 

59.50% 

59.00% 

58.50% 

58.00% 

Year Ended 

June 2002 

Year Ended 

June 2003 

Year Ended 

June 2004 

Year Ended 

June 2005 

Year Ended 

June 2006 

Unrestricted Current Ratio assesses the adequacy of working capital and the ability to satisfy obligations in the 

short-term. For every $1 of current liabilities Council has $2.35 of working capital to satisfy obligations in the shortterm. 

This ratio has remained at more than $2 for every $1 of liability over the last five years and shows that 

Council's liquidity levels are more than adequate. 

DEBT SERVICE RATIO 

Rate Coverage Ratio assesses the degree of dependence upon revenue from rates. In 2005/06, 61.75 per cent of our 

revenue was derived from Rates and Annual Charges. This figure consistently remains around the 60 per cent mark 

and reflects Council's continual reliance on rate revenues. 

RATES AND ANNUAL CHARGES OUTSTANDING RATIO 

32 

8.00% 

7.00% 

6.00% 

5.00% 

4.00% 

3.00% 

2.00% 

1.00% 

0.00% 

Year Ended 

June 2002 

Year Ended 

June 2003 

Year Ended 

June 2004 

Year Ended 

June 2005 

Year Ended 

June 2006 

4.50% 

4.00% 

3.50% 

3.00% 

2.50% 

2.00% 

1.50% 

1.00% 

0.50% 

0.00% 

Year Ended 

June 2002 

Year Ended 

June 2003 

Year Ended 

June 2004 

Year Ended 

June 2005 

Year Ended 

June 2006 

Debt Service Ratio assesses the degree to which revenues are committed to the repayment of debt. In 2005/06, 7.55 

per cent of our total revenue was committed to the repayment of debt. This compares favourably with the industry 

benchmark of 10 per cent. The debt service ratio has increased in recent years due to borrowings for property 

purchases associated with the Civic Place Redevelopment project. These properties are generating rental income that 

offsets these borrowing costs. 

Rates and Annual Charges Ratio assesses the impact of uncollected rates and annual charges on our liquidity and the 

adequacy of recovery efforts. As of 30 June 2006, 4.13 per cent of our rates and annual charges remained 

uncollected. This compares favourably with the industry benchmark of 5 per cent. This ratio has risen slightly in 

recent years due to supplementary rates being raised at the end of the financial year. 


How we Spend 

Special Rates 

Determining rates 

Councils collect money from their ratepayers to fund the broad 

range of services they deliver to the community. Each year 

councils approach the State Government to request modest 

adjustments to their rates to accommodate rising costs across the 

board. Major costs for 2005/06 included the NSW Fire Brigade 

Levy ($1,509,798), Parking Space Levy ($969,175), streetlighting 

charges ($1,879,062) and waste tipping fees ($3,818,991). 

For 2005/06 Parramatta City Council was granted a 3.5 per cent 

rate increase in line with the general rate rise determined by the 

Minister for Local Government. For the 2006/07 financial year 

Council made an application to the Minister for a special variation 

to rates, and was granted an 8.24 per cent rate rise, 4.64 per cent 

higher than the general rate increase of 3.6 per cent. Garbage 

collection and disposal charges went up by seven per cent due to 

increases in contractual/operating costs of waste disposal. Despite 

these increases Parramatta still remains the third lowest-rating 

Council in its relative group and in Western Sydney. 

Cutting our costs 

Parramatta City Council takes the investment of its ratepayers’ 

money seriously and is determined to demonstrate the value it 

provides in return. Following on from the efficiency savings in 

recent years, Council is undertaking new initiatives in the form of 

Best Value Reviews of its services and development of an asset 

management strategy for asset maintenance, renewal and 

replacement. 

Breaking down our rates 

When rate notices are sent out, rate charges are itemised by the 

rates payable on land, waste charges for the supply of garbage 

and recycling services, as well as Special Rates. 

SPECIAL RATES EXPENDITURE 2005/06 

Income raised from the levy of a Special Rate must be expended specifically for that purpose and during 2005/06 our Special Rates 

contributed to a range of projects throughout the Local Government Area, with 55 per cent going to suburban infrastructure and 29 

per cent to open space and recreation projects such as amenities blocks and cycleways. 

For a detailed account of how Council expended its Special Rates, refer to page 197-198 

Suburban Infrastructure 

Enhancement Special Rate 

All rateable properties outside the 

Central Business District help fund 

urban infrastructure such as drains, 

kerb and guttering, improvements 

to town centres and local 

waterways. 

Total Expenditure: $2,591,000 

Example of expenditure: 

Briens Road Culvert 

A total of $1.63 million (partly 

funded from special rates) was 

spent in 2005 on construction of 

Briens Road culverts to reduce 

flooding impacts during a 100 year 

average recurrence interval (ARI) 

event at Finlaysons Creek, 

Wentworthville. 

55% 

Open Space Acquisition and 

Embellishment Special Rate 

All rateable properties in the 

Parramatta Local Government 

Area help fund the acquisition of 

open space and embellishment of 

parks and public domain. 

Total Expenditure: $1,344,000 


Playground, Unnamed Reserve, 

Rippon Avenue Rydalmere 

During 2005/06, $243,000 of 

Special Rates money was spent on 

playground replacements out of a 

total $520,000 playground 

expenditure. 

9% 7% 

29% 

CBD Infrastructure 

Enhancement Special Rate 

Land categorised as Business CBD 

and Business Centre of Activity 

#2 help support the improvement 

of the Infrastructure in the CBD. 

Total Expenditure: $338,000 

During 2005/06, Special Rates 

funded the planning and design 

phase of the re-opening of a key 

section of the Church Street Mall 

to one way traffic, as well as 

implementing new Parramatta 

streetscape initiatives. 

Economic Development 

Special Rate 

All rateable properties within the 

Parramatta Primary Centre help 

support the achievement of 

Regional Economic Plan targets for 

employment in the Parramatta 

Primary Centre. 

Total Expenditure: $413,000 


Parramatta Room, the 

Attorney-General’s Office 

During 2005/06 we developed the 

Parramatta Room in the Sydneybased 

Attorney-General’s Office to 

support the relocation of an 

estimated1500 jobs from the 

Sydney CBD to Parramatta. 

How We Spend Your Special Rates 

33 


Achievements, Challenges, Outlook 

at a Glance 

Achievements, Challenges, Outlook at a Glance 

How well did we meet the objectives of Council’s Management Plan 2005/06-2008/09 ? 

This table overviews the major achievements in each of our Program areas, key 

challenges we encountered and each Program’s outlook for 2006/07. 

To read Council’s Management Plan 2005/06 - 2008/09, go to the Parramatta City Council website 

(www.parracity.nsw.gov.au) and click on Publications. You can also access Council’s Quarterly Reviews 

which provide progress reports on the year’s service delivery. 


Purpose 

City Leadership Sub-program 

Corporate Management Sub-program 

This Program leads engagement with the people of Parramatta, supports the Councillors in their leadership of the City and provides services that 

ensure that the Council is well run. 

Achievements 

adopted six codes relating to good governance and formed 

a Code of Conduct Committee 

Created a Commercial and Risk Unit 

produced code of conduct brochures and ran 

manager training 

built community consultation into our Parramatta Twenty25 

Strategic Plan 

implemented 40 planned actions of our Corporate 

Strategy 2004 

held over 28 consultations with our 1800 strong 

Residents’ Panel 

introduced a Customer Relationship Management tool to 

speed up response times to requests 

answered 97% of customer phone enquiries at the first point 

of call by end of June 2006 

held Community Council Meetings in Parramatta’s five Wards 

created a Strategic Asset Management Unit 

implemented 46 of 49 software modules of Councils Online 

IT investment 

implemented Corporate Services Review 

implemented 2005/06 priorities of Human Resources Plan 

2004/2009 

conducted Council’s second annual Organisational 

Cultural Inventory. 

Challenges 

developing Cost of Council Activity, Resident 

Satisfaction and benchmark data to allow Best 

Value Reviews of services 

improving our Place-based approach to the renewal 

of CBD and neighbourhoods 

accommodating higher fuel prices within Fleet 

Services budget 

improving coordination and leadership of 

Program Panels 

transforming Parramatta City Council into an 

employer of choice. 

Outlook 

pp40-55 

> develop Best Value Reviews of services to ratepayers 

> finalise Parramatta Twenty25 Implementation Plan 2006/07 

> roll out ‘responding to our community’ internal reforms 

> realise benefits of IT software investment 

> introduce acknowledgement letters for correspondence 

> finalise Corporate Services Review of internal services 

> replace Council’s ageing rolling plant 

> identify true cost of asset management 

> develop a decision support tool to help Councillors 

prioritise projects. 

34 



Purpose 

Economic Development Sub-program 

Land Use, Public Spaces Sub-program 

The City Development Program leads economic development of Parramatta as the second CBD of Sydney, managing and developing planning controls for 

the City and neighbourhoods, and providing education and awareness of the quality of streetscapes. 

pp55-63 

Achievements 

signed a development partner (Grocon Pty Ltd) for the $1.4 

billion Civic Place Redevelopment 

replaced Parramatta Economic Development Board with 

Reference Panel 

developed Retail Development Plan to maximise CBD 

retail opportunities 

planned and designed re-opening of key section of Church 

Street Mall 

reviewed Outdoor Dining and Other Public Domain Activities 

and Sister Cities Policy/Program 

Purpose 

welcomed increased visitor numbers to Parramatta 

completed Economic Strategy 

planned free shuttle bus, and park and ride facilities 

developed Stage 2 of Parramatta’s Residential Development 

Strategy (RDS) 

created new urban design team with a focus on RDS, 

masterplanning and urban design frameworks 

adopted Local Floodplain Risk Management Policy for LGA. 


Challenges 

The Roads, Paths, Access and Flood Mitigation Program leads the management and provision of transport and flooding infrastructure 

for the people of Parramatta. 

planned works at the Iron Street shops (Lakeside 

Shopping Village, North Parramatta) were delayed 

to 2006/07 after it was discovered that a portion of 

the footpath was in private ownership 

preparing the Residential Development Strategy in 

the context of State Government’s Metropolitan 

Strategy and community expectations 

preparing and implementing a transport plan for 

CBD that helps unlock the economic and social 

potential of the City 

continually refreshing our marketing efforts to 

attract business to Parramatta. 

Outlook 

> prepare four year action plan for City’s economic development 

> assist relocating organisations 

> finalise Residential Development Strategy 

> review Section 94 Plan re developer contribution expenditure 

> consolidate Local Environment Plan and Regional 

Environment Plan 

> amend Development Control Plan 

> continue Better Neighbourhood Program focusing on 

Harris Park 

> progress Civic Place Redevelopment. 

Provision of Roads, Footpaths and Cycleways Sub-program 

Transport Support Services Sub-program, Stormwater Drainage Sub-program 

pp64-71 


Achievements 

resurfaced 50 roads, implemented road safety measures and 

rehabilitated over 35 street pavements 

constructed Subiaco Creek Bridge (Parramatta Valley Cycleway) 

and completed Duck Creek Cycleway Granville stage 

started design work on northern pathway between Lennox 

Street bridge and Marsden Street weir 

upgraded multi-storey car parks and introduced parking 

meters to improve short stay parking 

implemented Parramatta City Centre Transport Plan 

surveyed commuters/workers re free shuttle bus service 

exhibited Draft Lower Parramatta River Flood Plain Plan and 

developed project briefs for Brickfield Creek and Duck River 

Flood management 

prepared flood studies of Parramatta’s 11 waterways for 

stormwater infrastructure maintenance and enhancement 

adopted Flood Policy 2006 

constructed Briens Road culverts at Wentworthville to 

alleviate local flooding 

increased safety capacity of McCoy Park embankments 

in Toongabbie 

acquired flood prone land with DAs pending for demolition. 

Challenges 

accommodating delays to flood risk management 

planning, pending resolution with Baulkham 

Hills Council 

carrying over design relating to routine seepage 

assessment/monitoring of Lake Parramatta dam 

after delays to Department of Commerce’s 

document preparation 

delaying installation of traffic calming measures in 

Epping pending public consultation 

improve resident satisfaction ratings for the 

conditions of our roads and footpaths. 

Outlook 

> fund neighbourhood pedestrian improvements across wards 

> fund Bike Plan and Parramatta Valley Cycleway 

> introduce free shuttle bus and park and ride services 

> implement Epping TMAP traffic calming measures 

> model traffic flows in CBD via Transport Plan 

> fund bus shelters in Woodville Ward and Region 13 

> introduce Stormwater Management Charge to fund 

stormwater infrastructure. 

35 



36 


Purpose 

The Regulatory Program leads Council’s responsibilities to define and manage the use and development of land and the protection of the health, safety 

and amenity of the people and environment of Parramatta. 

Achievements 

carried out 1205 public health inspections of 

regulated premises 

assessed 1032 private applications and 2277 public trees for 

pruning/removal 

doubled the number of parking inspectors to free up shortterm 

parking in CBD and neighbourhoods 

implemented tighter dangerous dogs legislation and issued 

on-the-spot fines 

prosecuted and enforced littering, overweight vehicles and 

illegal polluters 


Purpose 

The Environment Program leads protection of Council’s natural environment and maintenance of the built environment. 

Achievements 

completed 41 bushland restoration projects and linked Duck 

River bushland to create continuous corridor 

completed walking track stages at Toongabbie Creek and 

Quarry Branch reserves 

staged Parramatta’s first annual Environment Forum 

completed Waterways Rehabilitation and Quarry Branch 

Creek Rehabilitation Masterplans 

developed four year plan for Suburban Infrastructure 

(Environment) Special Rate 

commended for Doyle Ground Sports Complex water 

recycling/irrigation plant 

installed two new litter booms and serviced six others 

reviewed Development Services’ priority areas to streamline 

DA and CC processes 

introduced separate development assessment teams to 

handle domestic versus profit-driven DAs 

decreased DA processing time by 20% 

enhanced pre-lodgement meeting process for townhouses 

and major developments 

introduced DA Online facility to allow 24 hour tracking 

of DAs/CCs. 

awarded restoration grants for endangered ecological 

saltmarsh community 

carried out Aquatic Noxious Weeds Program at six sites 

planned improved residential waste and recycling services 

and expanded kerbside clean up collection 

awarded Keep Australia Beautiful award for recycling 

initiative and started Council’s Waste Avoidance and 

Recovery Plan 

rolled out anti-plastic bag campaign and handed out 

5000 free calico bags 

coordinated 22 community groups, 13 schools and 

five businesses for Clean-Up Australia Day 

introduced No Butts about Church Street campaign. 

Enforcement Sub-program 

Development Control Sub-program 

Challenges 

adjusting to lower activity in the development 

sector, with a substantial reduction in DA fees, 

especially for larger commercial and residential 

flat buildings 

accommodating lower fees resulting from 

reduction in receipt of CCs, reflecting slower 

activity across Sydney’s construction industry 

achieving further reduction in DA processing times 

utilising hand-held technologies to improve 

efficiencies. 

Natural Environment Sub-program 

Waste & Cleaning Sub-program 

Challenges 

tendering the new waste and recycling 

contract delayed 

constructing fish ladders delayed due to protracted 

negotiations with affected property owners 

finding further expenditure to improve our 

bushland and creeks. 

Outlook 

> continue inspections of regulated premises and increase focus 

on illegally dumped rubbish 

> provide one point of contact for domestic DAs and CCs 

> establish pre-lodgement process for townhouses and a design 

review panel for CBD projects 

> dedicate assessment team for development industry 

applications 

> increase Council share of competitive construction 

certification work. 

Outlook 

pp72-79 

pp80-89 

> implement six natural environment projects 

> remove litter and dumped items from high profile sites such as 

Parramatta River 

> develop a Platypus Recovery Plan and progress Council’s fish 

ladders project 

> under Cities for Climate Protection Program progress an 

environmentally sustainable childcare building 

> develop a Lower Parramatta River masterplan 

> present an annual Environment Forum 

> finalise City’s Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Plan 

> use Stormwater Management Charge to fund pollution control, 

creek rehabilitation and water re-use in community facilities. 



Purpose 

Community Services Sub-program 

Health & Safety Sub-program 

The Community Care Program guides the provision of services and facilities to support older people, children and people with disabilities and ensures that Parramatta 

is a healthy and safe place to live, work and play. The Program also leads the Council’s emergency management response and clean up after storms. 

pp90-101 

Achievements 

celebrated 10 years of Home Support services to the 

community 

supported 155 volunteers to help deliver essential services 

provided additional $100 rebate on top of other state 

government $250 rebate 

provided culturally-appropriate meals on wheels to 250 people 

expanded Seniors Leisure and Learning Centre activities to 

Granville and Guildford residents 

supported 250 members of the community who care for others 

received three one-off capital grants and three recurring 

grants from Department of Ageing, Disability and Homecare 

replaced a community bus at cost of $109,000 


Purpose 

provided subsidised lawn mowing and gardening services to 

150 residents 

ran five long day childcare centres and one occasional centre 

catering to 624 families 

completed Healthfit program in Council’s childcare centres to 

increase physical activity levels 

supported community events including Homeless Person’s 

Week, Artstart, Seniors Week, Harmony Day, and NAIDOC Week 

installed air conditioning and other improvements at 

Granville Youth and Community Recreation Centre 

ran road safety awareness campaigns 

completed Council’s Disaster Recovery Plan. 

Challenges 

diverted feasibility study funding of Council-run 

childcare centre in northwest sector to 

development of childcare development control 

plan for Parramatta, after increase in private 

centre applications for North West sector 

re-established relationships with Council’s 

advisory communities following restructuring and 

staff changes 

childcare fees down 12.5% due to low Monday and 

Friday attendance as parents cut day care usage. 

The Culture and Leisure Program leads initiatives to make Parramatta an interesting, entertaining and active place. The Program contributes significantly to 

informing and improving the health and wellbeing of the people of Parramatta, as well as attracting visitors to the City. 

Outlook 

> improve low income family access to Council’s 

childcare centres 

> negotiate development of out of hours care centres for 

children 12 and under 

> study feasibility of community hubs (multi-purpose building 

providing shared community group accommodation) 

> establish Aboriginal ranger position at Lake Parramatta Reserve 

> expand Seniors Leisure and Learning Program to other suburbs 

> establish extreme events emergencies website to support 

Disaster Plan 

> improve streetlighting levels for crossings, pedestrian refuges 

and roundabouts. 

Arts, Festivals and Events Sub-program, Recreation, Parks Sub-program 

Heritage Sub-program, Libraries Sub-program 

pp102-117 


Achievements 

re-designed Riverside Theatres website and introduced 

online ticketing 

co-created Aunty Jack Show and Tell for 2006 Big Laugh 

Comedy Festival 

funded Granville’s Switch Digital Arts Access Centre 

staged popular Drawn Together exhibition featuring three 

famous Australian women artists 

adopted award-winning Arts Facilities and Cultural Places 

Framework (2005) to plan City’s Artists 

developed Parramatta Artists Studios proposal to 

accommodate emerging and established artists 

carried out strategic review of Council’s major events 

trained non-English background youth to be swim coaches 

at Granville Swimming Centre 

staged NSW’s only Junior Pro-Am at Woodville Golf Course 

adopted Sport & Recreation Plan 2005-10 and ran Sport and 

Recreation-funded preschool Healthfit program 

upgraded eight playgrounds and six sportsgrounds and 

expanded Parramatta Skate Facility 

planted 350 semi mature trees and gave away 

3599 seedlings 

welcomed 1455 participants to Parramatta Heritage and 

Visitor Centre’s educational tours 

identified Council’s oldest records as 1840s Parramatta 

Market Trust minutes 

restored two cultural parks, and approved nine applications 

for Local Heritage Fund 

re-opened the refurbished Constitution Hill library 

continued HSC studies and Homework Help programs 

ran a Library Amnesty to encourage overdue loan returns. 

Challenges 

carried forward proposed work on Lake Parramatta 

Reserve’s equal access playground to allow for 

detailed site investigations and Aboriginal cultural 

heritage consultation 

experienced a decline in Central Library visitor 

numbers coinciding with CBD parking meter 

introduction 

swimming centre revenue under budget by 

$211,000 due to wet weather 

delayed progress on Charles Street Wharf to 

Gasworks Bridge cycleway, due to property 

ownership. 

Outlook 

> establish popular and emerging bands program at 

Riverside Theatres 

> establish formal arts trust to oversee arts funding 

> continue to implement Arts Facilities and Cultural Places 

Framework Plan and fund Parramatta Artists Studios 

> develop working model of Civic Place’s ‘new generation centre’ 

> develop uniquely Parramatta events and support 

Sydney Festival events 

> replace eight playgrounds, build equal access playground at 

Lake Parramatta and Granville Park skateboard facility 

> progress Charles Street wharf to Gasworks Bridge cycleway and 

construct part of Parramatta Valley Cycleway 

> improve Council’s three historic cemeteries and 

Hambledon Cottage. 

37

Overview - Parramatta City Council - NSW Government

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