Northern Beaches Council’s first integrated Operational Plan and Budget for 2017/18 will deliver a commitment of $114.1 million on high priority capital works projects, which is more than $40 million higher, or 60%, than the total average spend of the three former councils in the five years prior to amalgamation.
Northern Beaches Council’s total expenditure of $434.5 million will focus on delivering greater benefits to the community as well as ‘business as usual’ by implementing major capital works projects and maintaining existing service levels to the community, whilst integrating business operations to transition to the new council.
Northern Beaches Council Chief Executive Officer Mark Ferguson said the Operational Plan and Budget has been prepared to guide Council following elections planned for September 2017 and continues to set a high standard for service delivery.
“Our significant capital works program invests in parks, sportsfields, reserves and community centres; wharves, stormwater and waste services.
“This is a record funding commitment that has been made possible by the scale and capacity of the new Northern Beaches Council, and allows us to deliver greater benefits to our community,” Mr Ferguson said.
Council is investing in a range of new projects that weren’t able to be funded by former Councils such a synthetic sportsfields at Cromer and Belrose, new boardwalks at Church Point and Little Manly, sports club buildings at Warriewood, walkway upgrades for Narrabeen Lagoon and in Manly, as well as $32.6 million Connecting the Northern Beaches program.
The budget is based on the draft Community Strategic Plan Framework (vision, aspirations, outcomes, goals and strategies), which was developed through extensive community engagement during the first 11 months of Council’s operations.
“We asked the community to help guide our vision for what Council should make its priorities.
“With more than one thousand contributions to our draft vision in the first phase of our community engagement we’ve seen how passionate people living on the Northern Beaches are about their lifestyle, environment and vibrant cultural life,” he said.
The Operational Plan has been developed based on the former Council’s Delivery Programs and the Statement of Vision and Priorities considered by Council in December 2016.
Key highlights of the Operational Plan and Budget include:
- Total expenditure of $434.5 million, including a capital works program of $114.1 million that will deliver significant benefits to the Northern Beaches
- A Surplus from Continuing Operations before Capital Grants and Contributions of $13.73 million
- Cash and Investments of $161.2 million
- Net Assets of $4.5 billion
The Operational Plan and Budget 2017/18 and supporting documents will be placed on public exhibition for 28 days from 5 May 2017.
The community is also invited to a ‘Budget Roadshow’ with dates and locations to be announced shortly.