Ipswich City Council says its 30 June Budget will work hard to balance rising construction costs of up to 75% with delivering the city’s affordable lifestyle.
Mayor, Teresa Harding said being Queensland’s fastest growing city over the next 20 years comes with new challenges and new opportunities.
“We are all feeling the pain of inflation, with global events forcing prices higher,” Mayor Harding said.
“We understand how ratepayers feel at the checkout and petrol bowser. We feel it too as we work to manage the city’s finances responsibly and deliver the services needed to keep Ipswich on track.”
In preparing Budget documents, Mayor Harding said council had reviewed a range of costs, including key materials and labour infrastructure costs.
“Council found that seven sample Ipswich infrastructure projects saw average cost increases of between 18% and 75% across key material and labour categories over three years, from 2023-24 financial year to 2025-26 financial year.
These included cost escalations of between:
- 32 and 45% for base course asphalt
- 46 and 74% for surfacing asphalt
- 22 and 68% for reinforced concrete pipe
- 46 and 60% for concrete kerb and channel
- 46 and 91% for installed landscaping turf
- 34 and 150% for steel guardrail
“These are the sort of cost increases in construction materials that council is having to manage,” the Mayor said.
She said overall, the cost of delivering services to the Ipswich community will increase by 9% over the 2026-2027 financial year when compared with the 2025-2026 financial year. This reflected increases in both construction materials and consumables such as fuel, which had increased in cost by 10% year on year.
“CPI is set to stay high, with the Reserve Bank indicating inflation won’t return to the 2.5% target until mid-2028.”
“This means council has to focus on the most urgent priorities, and on what it can do to contain costs.
“With no new Federal Budget funding for the infrastructure our city needs, we are working hard to deliver the roads, parks, community facilities and services our city deserves in our upcoming Budget.
“Local government receives only three cents in every dollar of tax revenue raised in Australia, yet councils manage 77 per cent of Queensland’s roads and deliver 33% of all its services.
“In a city such as Ipswich, continuing to deliver those needed upgrades and services is a massive task as we face doubling our population to 533,000 by 2046.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Building Construction Index reports that construction costs grew by 6% in the Brisbane region between March 2025 and March 2026.
Finance and Governance Committee Chair, Councillor Paul Tully said that ongoing shortfalls in infrastructure investment from other levels of government also continued to challenge the city’s ability to fund needed capital works.
“Our lifestyle is the envy of south-east Queensland,” Cr Tully said.
“We are committed to making the most of the opportunities our rapid growth offers – more investment, more development, and more community.
“But we must also balance that with the needs of a rapidly growing city, with funding prioritising our 1,800 kilometre sealed road network, infrastructure assets and essential services.
“We look forward to the State Budget with our priority wish list focused on funding commitments to the public transport, roads and sporting infrastructure our city needs.”
Council’s Budget and Annual Plan will be handed down at a Special Council Meeting on 30 June.
