By Corey Everitt
Cuts to infrastructure and services may be on the horizon for Cardinia as the council sounds the alarm over a dire funding situation they’ve described as ‘managed decline’.
Cardinia Shire Council made a submission to the State Government’s inquiry into Local Government funding and services which is currently underway investigating council revenue structures and their ability to meet core services.
Cardinia contributed with a warning that the future of local services are facing ‘managed decline’ and referred to the latest 2024-25 budget as a ‘significant compromise’ that ‘sets the path’.
The council refers to a range of causes that are seeing them having to ‘do more with less’ and calls on the State Government to remedy the issues from infrastructure funding to emergency management.
Cost-shifting, the council says, has heightened the pressure. Involving a range of burdens being placed on the council, one central concern is rates being capped at the consumer price index (CPI).
In addition, 52 per cent of the council’s revenue is sourced from rates, but they say “expenses associated with providing services, building, and renewing infrastructure have been increasing at a much faster pace than the CPI.”
The council has also been increasingly responsible for development on property that is not their own – Crown Land.
The council raised the recent issue of their backflip on funding to the Kooweerup Netball Courts, which sits on State-owned Crown Land.
The submission says members at both State and Federal levels are pressuring them to reinvest in the site, even though it is a ‘State owned and managed site’.
User groups of such sites face an ‘uncertain future’ for their facilities as the council can no longer ‘afford to prioritise’ them over council-managed assets.
The February storm this year cost the council $1 million in their response, the council said.
Local government receives such funding as the Municipal Emergency Resourcing grant, however it ‘has not been indexed since 2012’ and largely goes to ‘offset staffing’.
The council also raised the demand in expanding early childhood education.
The State Government has begun to roll out their Best Start, Best Life reforms which will effectively make kindergarten free, this has placed responsibility on councils to expand infrastructure to accommodate the role.
Yet, Cardinia needs a ‘significant upgrade and investment’ as it has a ‘large proportion’ of existing learning centres which are ’ageing and non-contemporary’.
“Early years is part of the broader education system and is a State responsibility that is propped up by council funding,” the submission said.
The core services of maintaining roads, drains, parks and so on are no less troubled.
Rising costs have impacted the council with contracts for building or maintenance going up substantially.
The submission mentioned that a new contractor for mowing the shire’s open space was secured, but resulted in an ‘18 per cent increase in costs’.
Existing technological equipment and services used by the council have aged considerably where withholding an upgrade apparently is ‘not an option’.
The council says this will cost ‘in excess of $15m over five years’ and will need to ‘come at the expense’ of infrastructure and services.
Employee costs are rising as well, already representing a third of major expenses by the council.
Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement are currently underway and the council has offered staff a 3 per cent pay rise each year over the next three years.
‘Extreme pressure’ is on the council in the negotiation as the council is in ‘lower range’ of pay compared to other councils and over one in four staff who resign do so for better wages.
Among many other issues, the council’s ‘Long Term Financial Plan’ apparently shows existing revenue streams are ‘not sustainable’ for Cardinia’s growth.
From their surveys, the council said ‘reducing services is more favourable than paying additional rates’ meaning Cardinia is entering ‘managed decline’.
