Council performance showcased in Annual and Financial reports
Published on 24 September 2025
Mayor, Cr Don Henderson, said that annual and financial reports serve as a report card for councils, showcasing performance against the objectives outlined in the Council Plan and the Local Government Performance Reporting Framework.
“We have made strong and measurable progress towards the strategic objectives outlined in our Council Plan 2021–2025, delivering key initiatives and laying a solid foundation for long-term community benefits. At the same time, we have taken important steps to shape our future by developing the Council Plan 2025–2029, which sets a renewed direction informed by community feedback, emerging challenges, and new priorities,” said Cr Don Henderson.
The Annual Report provides an overview of highlights, achievements and challenges for the past financial year, and this year’s annual report provides a snapshot of performance against the Council Plan. Council completed 105 Council Plan actions, representing over 90 per cent of our commitments.
Some of the major projects delivered during 2024/25 include the official opening of Djuwang Baring, the adoption of Future Hepburn (five township structure plans and rural strategy), the endorsement of our Financial Vision setting a path for securing Council’s financial future, Council elections and the development of a suite of strategic documents such as the Council Plan and Long Term Financial Plan to guide the next four to ten years.
“Even with many successes there are challenges that Council is experiencing, we know our community expects us to do better on core services and customer service, something this Councillor group and organisation is committed to achieving.”
“Alongside the major projects highlighted in the report, our dedicated team continues to deliver a wide range of essential, day-to-day services to the community. These include the construction and maintenance of roads and footpaths, waste and recycling collection, the maintenance and enhancement of our many parks and open spaces, along with the provision of community focus initiatives,” said Cr Don Henderson.
The adopted Annual Financial Report shows that Council recorded an operating deficit of $189,000 for 2024/25. This represents a significant improvement compared to the previous year’s deficit of $9.88 million.
The improvement is largely attributed to cost-saving measures, including a $925,000 reduction in employee expenses and a $2.64 million reduction in materials and services. These savings were achieved through $1.5 million in targeted operational efficiencies, a $800,000 decrease in one-off special projects and consultancy costs, and the absence of $1 million in storm recovery works incurred in the prior year.
Council’s unrestricted cash position has improved from negative $4.84 million to a positive $1.30 million position. The positive unrestricted cash marks a significant improvement from the previous year.
“Overall, the financial statements show a satisfactory performance. We will continue to closely monitor our financial position. The 2024/25 year was intended as a period of financial stabilisation, and we made some difficult decisions to improve our long-term financial sustainability and respond to increasing economic pressures. The financial outcomes reflect the positive impact of those efforts, but we are not sitting still, there is still much more to do,” said Cr Don Henderson.
The adopted reports will be uploaded to our website.