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Editorial: Budget good news for Councils but infrastructure gap continues to grow

Substantial increases in direct funding for Local Government announced in the recent Federal Budget have been welcomed across the sector. An additional $2.3 billion will come Councils’ way in 2007–2008, as well as a $1,749 million boost, or 3.9 per cent, in Financial Assistance Grants in the next financial year.

A massive 41 per cent increase to $22.3 billion announced for AusLink 2 from 2009–2014, will see some of this coming Local Government’s way, particularly through the AusLink Strategic Regional Program.

Better still, the Treasurer announced an extra $250 million under this program for this current financial year, enabling the Department of Transport and Regional Services to now fund a range of Councils whose applications had missed out under the first round of offers.

The Roads to Recovery Program will be continued until 2014 and funding will increase by 14 per cent from 2009.

In total the Budget has delivered around $2.5 billion for Local Government, with the immediate allocation for the Strategic Regional Program ($250 million); extending the Roads to Recovery Program by five years ($1750 million); extending the Strategic Regional Program ($300 million); and extending the Black Spot Program ($350 million).

With additional funding for various regional, bushfire and environment programs, this was all music to the ears of Councils across the nation. See article on page 10 for further details.

The Budget was certainly a much needed shot in the arm for road funding and various current programs that will have a flow on benefit to local communities, and the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and State LGAs are to be congratulated for their efforts to secure this on behalf of Councils and their communities. However, in spite of this being an election year, no new initiatives for Local Government were announced.

It is now well documented that Councils face a massive across the board backlog in infrastructure maintenance and renewal that is growing exponentially. Yet the Local Community Infrastructure Renewals Fund (LCIRF), recommended by the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report into Local Government financing, did not get a guernsey.

There is no doubt ALGA will continue to push for this important initiative in the lead up to and during the election campaign.

And with the Government not wanting to put all eggs in the one basket quite yet, there is the strong possibility that programs such as this will be held back and announced closer to the election date.