Council Minutes 16 April 2007 - Waratah-Wynyard Council

Council Reports
The report states that ‘rather than singling out particular Councils, to our
mind of more importance is the macro perspective provided by our
assessments as to the condition of local government as a whole.
Councils ‘feeling the pinch’ are most likely to be those, as characterised by
PricewaterhouseCoopers in its recent National Financial Sustainability Study
of local government for ALGA, that exhibit:
• Minimal (or negative) revenue growth;
• For a small proportion of Councils, limited access to rate revenue due
to relatively small populations reducing the size of the rates income
stream coupled with constraints on the size of annual rates increases;
• Limited access to the strong financial and asset management skills
which are critical to identifying sustainability problems, optimising
renewals expenditure and improving revenue streams;
• Expanding service provision due to rising community demands,
coupled with a related tendency by some Councils to step in to provide
a non-traditional service; and
• A tendency to run operating deficits creating a need to defer or
underspend on renewal of infrastructure, particularly community
infrastructure.
Particular areas identified for improvement are:
• Establishing internal structures that provide for independent review of
processes and decision-making to assist councillors meet their
accountability to ratepayers and the community, including with an
audit committee overseeing and advising on matters of accountability
and internal control;
• Embedding spending and revenue decisions in a multi-year framework,
and against the background of long-term financial rules; and
• Improving coherence and uniformity in external financial reporting.
It is also recommended that Tasmanian Councils develop appropriate longterm
spending, asset management, revenue and borrowing strategies to
overcome their infrastructure and services challenges within sustainable
financial limits.
At the very least, each Council should develop a rolling 10-year financial plan
to:
• Rehabilitate infrastructure that is already dilapidated;
• Renew infrastructure when it degrades below an acceptable standard
in future;
• Expand the total infrastructure stock by enough to adequately cater for
residential and business growth;
Waratah-Wynyard Council – Ordinary Meeting Minutes – 16 April 2007 Page 39