Published on Thursday, 1 August 2024 at 11:39:13 AM
The City of Busselton’s 2024-2025 budget has now been adopted and work is already underway to deliver a multitude of projects and initiatives approved by Council for this financial year.
City of Busselton Mayor Phill Cronin said the budget provides in the order of $135.2 million of operational and capital investment to support services, facilities and projects important to our key strategic themes - natural environment, lifestyle and the creation of opportunities across the city.
“This is a budget focused on continuing to provide all the high quality services we offer our local community, which support an enviable standard of liveability, whilst also focusing on anticipated future infrastructure needs. We recognise the need to plan for future population growth in a careful and considered way and have balanced the budget accordingly. We also recognise the critical need to ensure the City, as an organisation, is financially sustainable. This has meant implementing the rate increase required to meet the increasing costs of service and facility provision in today’s market and enabling us to start catching up after successive years of lower than CPI rating.”
Revenue to support the budget has been raised through an average 7% rate increase, inclusive of 1% to allocate to a reserve for the future sport and recreation facility provision.
“Sport and recreation came through as a strategic community priority in the MARKYT Community Scorecard survey conducted in March 2024 and Council has ensured funding is being specifically included in the budget.”
To continue to fund effective management of holiday homes, an average increase of 15.14% has been applied to the holiday homes differential rates. This will offset the revenue reduction the City will experience caused by the introduction of a centralised State Government holiday home register.
The 2024-2025 budget includes:
- $53.2 million for capital works, including $10.2 million in respect of the City’s road network comprising of renewal works on Commonage Road Dunsborough and the reconstruction and widening of North Jindong Road;
- $14.5 million in respect of buildings, including the carryover of Saltwater funding and funding for the Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Pavilion;
- $5.1 million in parks, gardens and reserves work, including replacement and renewal of playground equipment in multiple locations and lighting renewal at the Dunsborough Oval and Skate Park;
- $3 million in footpath and cycleway construction;
- $3.3 million in Busselton Regional Airport works, including $1.2 million to expand the public car park.
Coastal works, partly funded by the Federal Government, are also in the budget, with $1.3 million allocated for coastal stabilisation works to strengthen our coastal defences against erosion and the impacts of climate change.
In closing, Mayor Phill Cronin said, “The Budget has been carefully considered by Council with a long-term view of the needs of the City and its residents in mind, supporting the City’s growing and diverse community, while ensuring we maintain a high standard of daily service delivery.”
Objectives outlined in this statement are aligned with the City of Busselton’s Strategic Community Plan (2021 - 2031) Key Themes Leadership: A Council that connects with the community and is accountable in its decision making.
Ends. Media enquiries can be directed to pr@busselton.wa.gov.au
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