Mayoral Memo - 1 May 2024
I want to buy a new TV AND I want to go on a holiday with my wife. I have looked at my household budget and I can’t afford to do both. I do have some savings that I could use but I have put those savings away to educate my children and I need to replace the roof on my house soon so I need to keep those savings.
What to do?
Balancing a personal budget is something that most people do on a regular basis - possibly without a lot of thought about the minutiae of that budget.
In dealing with public money, Councillors are making the same decisions you make with your household budget but the numbers just happen to be larger.
Just the same as you might decide about a new TV OR taking a holiday, Council needs to make decisions about whether we build new infrastructure or deliver additional services. The financial bucket is not bottomless and when the community wants more money spent in one area of the LGA, we need to work out where we can take that money from.
As you would expect from any large organisation, there are financial reserves but that money is tagged with various internal and external restrictions so that as we progress through our various plans, we know the money is available.
Councillors must perform a lot of functions and be across a lot of information to do our job effectively but if Council is financially insolvent, it makes it very difficult to do anything else in the community.
We are at that critical time of the year when Councillors have gone through a number of workshops building on the work of our staff who have built the bones of the budget for the 2024/2025 financial year. We have made our final adjustments and it is now over to you. The budget is on display and we invite feedback and comments from the public.
It is a $180 million budget. $31.75 million is currently allocated for urban and rural road construction and reconstruction. $3 million for Blueridge Link Road Stage One. $1.48 million for recreation structures and renewal of sporting facilities. You can drill down to smaller numbers. $412,000 for footpath renewals. $286,000 for renewal of CCTV cameras. $15,000 for a leash free area in Wellington. $13,000 for a shade sail at Tom Culkin Oval in Geurie.
Have a look and give us your feedback. Typically, people want more. More infrastructure; more roadworks; more services. I don’t have a problem with that but when you ask for something extra, see if there is an area where we can spend less. Councillors want to deliver a balanced budget so to give in one area we need to take from somewhere else.
We look forward to receiving your submissions
Councillor Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council
Last Edited: 30 Apr 2024