Central Coast Councillor, Jared Wright, says a NSW Government proposal that could see the organisation’s Commonwealth grants funding cut by 60% would prove “catastrophic” for the community.
The NSW Local Government Grants Commission is currently undertaking a review of the methodology behind the Commonwealth Financial Assistance (FA) Grant for NSW councils.
Using the draft methodology released for consultation by the Commission, Central Coast Council’s share of the Commonwealth FA Grant would drop from $32.9 million to $13.2 million – the largest proposed cut for any council in the state. Lake Macquarie, Blacktown and City of Newcastle councils are among the others set to be hit the hardest should the revised methodology be adopted by the Commission.
“Every Council has already been through their budget processes for this financial year and have adopted long term financial plans with their expected contributions baked in. Now, the NSW Government wants to go back to the drawing board and reallocate money from the Federal Government to the detriment of larger regional councils,” said Cr Wright.
“Let me be very clear. If the NSW Government changes the methodology as proposed in October, it will have catastrophic impacts on our larger regional councils.”
Central Coast Council is currently the largest recipient of the FA grant funding due to its size, with a population of 350,000 and road network of more than 2,200km.
The Commission has advised that the review is being conducted in response to advocacy from the state’s peak local government bodies to make the methodology fairer, more transparent and based on correct data.
The Commission is currently seeking council and stakeholder feedback on the draft methodology. It says the proposal may change how the Commonwealth funding is distributed between councils, with a view to better reflecting each council’s relative financial need.
“There is no doubt that smaller regional councils need money as well. The NSW Government and Federal Governments should be looking at how they can make the funding pool bigger, given their increasing cost shifting, rather than shortchanging larger councils,” Cr Wright says.
Submissions on the proposal are being accepted until 9 October.
