The City has limited money available to fund new projects and manage the growth in our population. Unfortunately, in the last few years there has been a big difference between how much our income has grown, and how much our costs have increased. This means that each year it is harder to keep delivering the services the community needs with the funding that we have.

Rates and the City's income

$33M gap between income growth and rising costs

Graph depicting $33M funding gap for current four-year period

The $33M total gap between income growth and rising costs across the current four-year period.

Gaps between the rate cap and cost increases

Year

Rate Cap**

Actual Inflation*

Variance Actual CPI to Rate Cap

Cumulative Variance %

2020/21

2.00%

3.80%

-1.80%

-1.80%

2021/22

1.50%

6.10%

-4.60%

-6.40%

2022/23

1.75%

6.00%

-4.25%

-10.65%

2023/24

3.50%

3.5%***

0

-10.65%


*Source; 6401.0 Consumer Price Index, Australia

** ESC

*** - RBA Forecast

The compounding impact of the gap means that the gap between income and expenses never closes, so it continues to impact future years.

How are current funds used?

The City uses most of your rates to pay for core services that provide every-day value – like early morning street cleaning and bin collections, maintaining our fantastic parks and gardens, staging major events, caring for dogs and cats at Bendigo Animal Relief Centre and much more.

Along with providing these core services, the City looks after $2.7B worth of Council-owned fixed plant, property and infrastructure. These assets enable the City to provide a wide range of services to the community.

Like many other Councils in Victoria, the City is facing the challenge of managing development growth creating more assets at a time when less funding is available, and costs have increased.

The City faces a growing gap between the demand to renew existing assets, and the funds available to maintain this renewal. The City’s renewal gap is forecast to reach over $70M by 2031/2032.

With increasing costs, we need to continue to have conversations with the community on:

  • Considering the number of services the City delivers
  • Creating more multi-use facilities and reducing the number of facilities the City maintains
  • Whether an increase in rates may be necessary in future Council terms to maintain all our current services

A snapshot of other responsibilities

More information

If you would like more information, please read the City’s Financial Plan. The Plan makes sure that:

  • We support the Community Vision and deliver the Council Plan
  • We invest in assets the community values
  • Our services remain affordable and accessible
  • Our organisation remains financially sustainable
View the Financial Plan 2021-2031