Central Coat Council says it is tracking well with its finances and capital works delivery program in the lead-up to the September local government elections.
The Quarter 2 Review was presented to the February 27 meeting, covering the second quarter of the financial year, October to December 31, 2023.
Council said it paid down one of the emergency loans in December 2023, and has now commenced setting aside $1.4M each month to enable the final pay down of the remaining emergency loan in November 2025.
Council CEO David Farmer said the extinguishment of these emergency loans was a great achievement and that moving forward it would mean more funds to allocate towards community services and projects.
“It has not only been the money that has had to be put aside every month towards paying down these loans, but also the interest that has had to be paid on the loans, which has been a burden on Council for the past several years,” he said.
Other points in the Q2 review include a projected increase in budgeted operating income of $5.9M, and an operational expenditure projected to increase by $3.2M.
Farmer said based on those proposed budget changes, Council projected a modest operating surplus for the year ending June 30, 2024.
He added the projected capital income from developer contributions was being reduced, whilst projected income from grants had been increased by $8.7M to align with approved funding agreements.
An increase in capital expenditure of $38.3M has been included mainly relating to the receipt of unbudgeted grants.
“Overall, the Q2 report is very good, and we are getting on with delivering projects and services in a very timely and financially prudent manner,” Farmer said.
“This is evidenced as was reported in January in our capital works quarterly update, that Council is tracking at 100 per cent to budget.
“Current major projects include the new Gosford Regional Library, the Mardi Dam Water Treatment major upgrade and the Hue Hue Rd pavement upgrade.”
The review revealed that 72 per cent of Council’s planned 127 operations were on schedule as of the start of this year, 24 per cent were behind schedule and four per cent were completed.
All the capital works projects have been started and are on track.
Scheduled maintenance of parks and reserves are better than the target: the Open Space and Recreation Unit achieved 91.05 per cent of scheduled maintenance on time in Q2 when the target was only 80 per cent.
Also the scheduled servicing of sports facilities completed on time is up to 86 per cent on surrounds and 91 per cent field of mowing was on time.
Council said 814 development applications were outstanding at the end of December 2023.