AEC GROUP APPOINTED TO LEAD FINANCIAL CONSULTATION
Dubbo Regional Council (DRC) has appointed AEC Group to deliver an in-depth review into Council’s current financial position and develop recommendations to support a financially sustainable future.
At the June 2023 Ordinary Meeting Council resolved to undertake a community engagement and education program in regards to Council’s financial position and the potential for a special rate variation to be applied for from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
Dubbo Regional Council Mayor, Mathew Dickerson welcomed the appointment of AEC Group.
“Council is committed to ensuring financial sustainability and exploring options with our community to address long term financial challenges. An independent report with clear data and recommendations will be critical to ensuring we have informed community engagement and decision making in the future.”
“These challenges have arisen for a number of reasons including increased demand on services, cost shifting and ageing infrastructure. I anticipate there will be a range of recommendations on how these challenges can be addressed,” Clr Dickerson said.
Dubbo Regional Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Murray Wood said the review would be undertaken over a period of five weeks.
“The review will examine Council’s current financial and operational performance, including benchmarking against other regional councils, an assessment of the forward projections of Council’s financial performance against the key performance measures set by the NSW Office of Local Government and identification of challenges and opportunities (including efficiencies and savings) for consideration when developing a Financial Sustainability Strategy,” Mr Wood said.
“Report recommendations will be modelled to examine operational and service level reductions with no special rate variation and current or increased service delivery and asset renewal with the application of a special rate variation.”
The community will be informed of the findings from the review and consulted on the options.
“Following Council’s consideration of the review report in September a community engagement program will be undertaken to share the outcomes and gain valuable community input,” Mr Wood said.
“The community engagement program will be centred on assisting the community to understand Council’s financial position and what a potential special rate variation, or no special rate variation, would mean for future delivery of services and renewal of community assets,” Mr Wood said.
The Financial Sustainability Review is expected to be presented to a future meeting of Council.
To keep up-to-date with the Independent Financial Review project you can follow Dubbo Regional Council’s Your Say page here: yoursay.dubbo.nsw.gov.au/dubbo-region-financial-sustainability-review.
Last Edited: 01 Sep 2023