Council's Annual Budget supports the realisation of the Community Vision and Council Plan through the delivery of activities and initiatives under five key focus areas.

Hepburn Shire Council is taking a responsible approach to managing our finances, presenting a responsible and well-measured budget that continues to show investment and support of our community within a challenging fiscal environment.

The draft Budget 2024-2025 has a strong focus on completing current capital works projects, maintaining our community infrastructure and providing effective and efficient community services and programs while being mindful of cost-of-living pressures.

We encourage you to review the draft Budget for 2024-2025 and provide your feedback using the form below.

Local governments across Victoria are operating in challenging financial environment. Like families, communities, businesses and other councils across Victoria, Council is feeling the impacts of financial pressure.

Our financial challenges arise from the cumulative effect of rate-capping below current inflation increasing the costs of delivering services and capital projects. Comparatively low-rating and service delivery in multiple townships across the Shire all combine to impact our financial outlook. Council will need to remain actively seeking other income sources, and to continue to look for opportunities to reduce operational expenses.

This is the fourth and final year Budget under our current Council Plan (2021-2025). This draft Budget funds important services like roads, parks, waste and recycling, business support, events, and much more. Key financial information includes:

• Revenue collected through rates and charges, State and Federal Government grants and other sources, is projected to be $40.3 million.
• Average rates are proposed to increase by 2.75 percent in line with the State Government Rate Cap, below the current CPI rate of 3.6 percent.
• $42.3 million in total expenditure for the coming financial year, representing an 18 percent decrease from the 2023-2024 Budget.
• $8.5 million Capital Works program focused on delivery of previous commitments and asset renewal. Funded by Council contributions and grant funding and new borrowings of $5.53. These projects include:
  • $2.58 million for the road renewal and resealing program.
  • $1.03 million for Daylesford Town Hall remedial work.
  • $1.06 million in building works including the design for Daylesford community facilities ($300,000) and continued progression of the Glenlyon Recreation Reserve Pavilion ($100,00).
  • $1.5 million for recreational and community facilities including parks and open spaces, of which $1 million is grant funded.
• Plan for $1.5 million in Operational savings coming from employee and service reductions and other general efficiencies.
• Operating deficit for 2024-2025 financial year of $1.96 million mainly due to a higher-than-normal capital program in previous years.
• Closing projected cash and investments balance of $6.95 million at 30 June 2025. Once balances are covered the unrestricted cash balance is a surplus of $0.29 million leaving little room for any additional projects.

It is important that we put our community at the centre of the challenging conversations we need to have to shape our financially sustainable decision-making. You can join the conversation by:

• Read through the information on this project page including the Draft Budget document that included in the Document Library.
• Share your feedback on the Draft Budget 2024/2025 and make a submission using the form below. Submissions open 28 May 2024 and close 13 June 2024.
• Thank you to everyone who sent us questions! We will be posting a recorded overview session with the Mayor and the CEO online shortly.
• Keep up to date on this project by subscribing below. We would love to hear from you and engage further with our community.

Upon consideration of community feedback on the draft Budget 2024-2025, Council will look to adopt the draft Budget on 25 June 2024.

As well as developing a draft Budget for the coming financial year, Council is reviewing the ten-year Financial Plan. The Financial Plan's primary aim is to ensure Council's medium to long-term financial sustainability.

Striking a balance between financial outlook, community expectations and priorities and statutory obligations is a difficult task. It will require continued conversations with our community. To sustainably plan for our financial future, we will need to have conversations that:

• Assess and prioritise our service offerings.
• Determine appropriate service levels.
• Identify necessary assets for delivering prioritised services.
• Evaluating surplus assets for potential consolidation.
• Adjusting staff levels to support the delivery of prioritised services.

We look forward to working with our community on this challenge as we work towards reviewing the ten-year Financial Plan later this year.