Regional mayors across New South Wales are calling on the Federal Government to boost funding for local councils, warning that current arrangements are no longer sustainable for rural and regional communities.
The NSW Country Mayors Association has launched a new campaign, Invest in Us, aimed at increasing federal investment in local government services and infrastructure.
Chairman Rick Firman said funding through Financial Assistance Grants has declined significantly over time, placing growing pressure on councils.
“Investment by successive Federal Governments in Local Government through the Financial Assistance Grants has fallen from 1% of total tax revenue in the mid-1990s to around 0.5% today and it is just not sustainable,” Mayor Firman said.
The campaign is supported by Local Government NSW and seeks to highlight the essential role councils play in delivering everyday services across vast regional areas.
“Everyone wants parks, sporting fields, swimming pools, playgrounds, roads, libraries and theatres as well as economic and community development, planning and engineering services,” Mayor Firman said.
“Local Government provides these services; in the case of our Members they are being provided to almost 3 million people living across around 700,000 square kilometres from the coast to our western plains of NSW.”
Mayor Firman said restoring federal funding to 1% of total tax revenue would provide immediate relief for councils struggling to maintain services and infrastructure.
“If the Federal Government wants our communities in remote, rural and regional locations to continue to have access to these essential services and facilities, then they must increase their investment in us,” he said.
“Local Government creates the communities we all live and work in. We need the Federal Government to invest in us, so that we can invest in our communities.”
The push comes as a Federal Government inquiry examines the financial sustainability of local government, including how current funding arrangements affect service delivery and infrastructure investment.
Mayor Firman said the association expects the inquiry to confirm that funding has not kept pace with growing demand.
“The CMA Board and Members welcome this Inquiry; we find it hard to believe that it will not identify that the current Federal funding has not kept pace with growing demands for services and facilities,” he said.
He said increasing the grants back to 1% could effectively double revenue for many councils, reducing deficits and limiting the need for special rate rises.
“The increase would not only wipe out deficits but also reduce the need for Special Rate Variations to which a growing number of our 89 Members have been forced to consider and implement,” Mayor Firman said.
The association is proposing that the funding increase be phased in over three federal budget cycles.
“All we are asking is for the Federal Government to restore the funding to 1% of total tax revenue… For many of our Members this is about keeping the doors open, the status quo simply cannot and must not continue,” he said.
The Invest in Us campaign will engage with state and federal politicians, local stakeholders and communities as regional councils push for a long-term funding solution.
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