Tweed Shire Council is officially Fit for the Future
08 December 2016
Advice received from Minister for Local Government
Tweed Shire Council has received advice from the Minister for Local Government that it is officially ‘Fit for the Future’, after meeting the key NSW Government benchmarks, following a re-assessment process.
Fit for Future is the NSW Government’s process for modernising local government to ensure all councils across the State have the capacity to provide the services and infrastructure their communities need into the future.
Council met several of benchmarks in the original assessment in June last year and was considered by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to have the scale and capacity of a Fit for the Future Council.
However, there were a number of financial benchmarks Council did not meet in the original assessment, including the important criteria of ‘Operating Performance Ratio’. This has now been met through the latest financial statements which include updated re-valuation data on Council’s assets which has had positive impact on Council’s bottomline.
In a letter to Council, Minister Paul Toole said the Office of Local Government had reassessed Tweed’s proposal against the Financial Sustainability criteria and associated benchmarks and had found Tweed Shire Council to be “fit”.
“I trust that Council will continue to implement strategies which ensure it remains financially sustainable and increases its capability and capacity to deliver services and infrastructure into the future,” Mr Toole said.
Mayor of Tweed, Councillor Katie Milne, welcomed the Minister’s decision.
“This is fantastic news and means that the prospect of amalgamation is even less likely and would not be as a consequence of our financial position,” Cr Milne said.
“This is a really important milestone and a significant achievement. And thankfully we have not had to inflict our community with any more rate rises above the CPI, as many other councils are having to propose to satisfy the government.
“High growth councils such as ours have found it very difficult to meet the government's particular model of financial sustainability criteria.
“I am very pleased that Council was actually able to achieve a significant surplus for the first time ever of $8 million,” she said.
Council’s General Manager, Troy Green said: “This announcement is really good news for the Tweed as it has been independently assessed that we are in a financially sustainable position. Council’s ongoing job is to now maintain this position through careful long-term financial planning.
“The Tweed the Future is Ours project is part of this long term planning. We’re currently assessing some 1800 responses to a recent major survey which asked residents to rate our services in importance, tell us how satisfied they are with the delivery of the services and what they think the priorities should be for the future.
“Members of Council’s staff-based Community Engagement Network have been out and about at community events over the past year, talking to hundreds of people about Council’s 52 services,” he said.
“This information is vital to the formulation of the draft Community Strategic Plan 2017-2027 - Council’s blueprint for delivery on the community’s vision - which will go out on exhibition for public comment in the New Year.
“Though this next round of engagement, members of the community will once again get to tell us their vision for the future and what the priorities should be for Council for the next 10 years,” he said.
The Minister’s full assessment, as well as the original Tweed Shire Council submission and reassessment proposal, are available at www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/FitForTheFuture