2016-17 DRAFT Annual Operating Plan Survey

Mayor's Message

Hello residents and ratepayers of Leeton Shire

Thanks for taking the time to give feedback to Council on its DRAFT 2016/17 Annual Operating Plan.

This is the 4th and final Plan for this term of Council. Council wants to be sure that our community's voice is being heard and its aspirations met.

It's never simple, of course. Council is a $33.5M business and like all businesses we have competing demands, new challenges and a host of legal obligations that must be met.

Our income can be a bit unpredictable. This year the rates cap is one of the lowest ever at 1.8% and the federal assistance grant we received each year has had its annual increment frozen leaving us $200,000 down from what was forecast. We also have the challenge of improving our operations by $1.3M annually to remain Fit For The Future (FFF) and secure our ability to remain a standalone Council.

But, while it's a tight budget, with prudent governance and good management we are optimistic about our future. We have a bumper year ahead for roads funding which will assist with catching up on our renewals program. We have also improved operational costs by $800,000 which means that we have stalled any further slippage with our infrastructure backlog.

Over the next few years we need to find a further $500,000 in savings to redirect towards finally closing the remaining backlog gap once and for all. Achieving this is going to be a challenge and we may have to work quite differently to how we have in the past.

Despite the tough financial environment, Leeton Shire remains a progressive Council. We are proposing to tackle several exciting projects that we believe are important community priorities. These include upgrading the Leeton pool, refurbishing the Roxy Theatre and revitalising our Leeton CBD. We also have village priorities on the agenda such as the Whitton Waste Transfer Station and a sewerage scheme for Wamoon.

In many cases we have the vision and now we need to get down the detailed planning so that we are in a good position to access external grant funding to bring several of these projects to fruition.

The survey below outlines what is new or different to our previous Annual Operating Plans. We invite your feedback by 6 May 2016 on these. Naturally you are also welcome to provide feedback too on any other general matters in our Annual Operating Plan related to our regular Council services.

The Councillors and I look forward to considering your feedback before we take the step of adopting the 16/17 Annual Operating Plan. Be sure to tell us what you support, not only what concerns you.

Yours sincerely

Mayor Cr Paul Maytom