March 17, 2015
A review of the South Burnett Regional Council’s finances by the Queensland Treasury Corporation has given the SBRC a “thumbs up” for its financial management.
The purpose of the review – which was undertaken in February – was to assess the Council’s capacity to service its current debt portfolio, as well as proposed borrowings for the construction of the new Kingaroy Wastewater Treatment Plant and, if owners agree, the normalisation of the Memerambi Estate.
The review also looked at other risks which might affect Council’s debt servicing capacity and its vulnerability to those risks in the coming two years, as well as over the longer term.
QTC’s assessment team rated the Council’s financial position as Moderate, which it defined as “a local government with an adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments in the short to medium term and an acceptable capacity in the long term.”
The review looked at the SBRC’s finances from 2011 through to 2024.
It projects that Council revenues will grow from $50 million in 2011 to $80 million a year by 2024, and expenses will grow from $50 million to around $76 million per annum over the same period.
Council’s liquidity will progressively tighten between 2014 and 2017, then rise between 2018 and 2024.
The report found that amalgamation and decisions taken since the 2008 council mergers had strengthened the region’s position overall.
A review in 2007 had rated the former Murgon Shire Council as “Distressed”, and both Nanango and Wondai Shire Councils as “Weak”.
Only the former Kingaroy Shire Council had achieved a “Moderate” rating, but now the whole region was rated as “Moderate”. Many of the debt and infrastructure issues that have plagued the region have either been fixed or were being addressed.
At the most recent Council meeting last Wednesday, where news of the QTC’s positive rating was announced, Cr Barry Green said the report was an endorsement of the work that had been done over the past seven years.
“We are often criticised by those with a very limited knowledge of finance,” he said.
“But when Queensland Treasury tell us we are a very good council, I think we should put that out there.
“Finances were in a hell of a mess when this Council was put together in 2008.”
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann agreed the current council was now on a much safer financial footing than the old, non-amalgamated councils.
“The finances of the former Wondai, Nanango and Murgon Shire Councils were reaching a point where they would have become financially insolvent,” he said.
“In fact, Murgon already was.”
Mayor Kratzmann said rates had risen since amalgamation, but that was to make the region sustainable.
“That’s why the big rises have now stopped,” he said.
“We had to make the hard decisions and it’s been tough, but our Queensland Treasury report is A-plus and we’ve set up the South Burnett for a very strong future.”
