Report into Local Government financial sustainability released

Published on 06 December 2024

Mansfield Shire Council has welcomed the findings of a state government inquiry into local government funding and services.

The report on the Inquiry into Local Government Sustainability was released on Thursday 28 November 2024.

Mayor Cr Steve Rabie said Council had taken a firm position and put forward strong recommendations to the panel inquiry.

“There has been an increased practice of cost shifting – pushing costs onto local governments for core services that used to be funded appropriately by state and federal governments,” he said.

“Mansfield Shire Council continues to take the utmost care with ratepayer funds. Every time there is an increase to the cost of delivering critical community services or infrastructure projects, it comes at a cost to other services our ratepayers and community need.

“Many of the issues we raised have been reflected in the report as recommendations.

“Costs are increasing. It costs more to build and maintain assets. More to deliver the services we must deliver. At the same time, we are seeing a decrease in funding in many areas.

“On top of that, we’re seeing delays in payments, which puts us in a challenging financial position as we commit to ensuring sound financial management.

“If the recommendations in the inquiry are implemented, the future of the sector’s financial sustainability will be vastly improved. This includes recommendations that address how grants are managed, cost shifting and the delivery of core services.

“Mansfield Shire Council took a firm position and gave evidence to the enquiry from the perspective of a small rural council with a large geographical area to cover and fewer ratepayers to foot the bill when other levels of government back out of providing the funding we need to provide services.

“One example is black spot funding. For example, on Mansfield-Whitfield Road, there is a black spot. There have been fatalities on that road. The road intersects with a state road. After years of lobbying for a contribution from the state government to fix the road, we were able to successfully gain funding through a federal grant. We were awarded $2 million for that project. However, we were dismayed to find that the state government took 9 percent of that funding for ‘internal department costs’. This is a massive blow. It equates to $176,000 to the state government, who haven’t contributed to the funding and aren’t taking the risk on the project.

“We have asked the state government to reinstate that money back to Mansfield Shire Council and it is a recommendation of the report that the Victorian Government should not take money out of Commonwealth Government Grants allocated to local councils.

“We are now calling on the state government to take the report seriously and implement the recommendations as soon as possible.”