Councils Welcome Budget As ‘A Good Start’

May 4, 2016

The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has welcomed the extra $50 million in “Roads To Recovery” funding in Tuesday night’s Federal Budget, saying it is a “good start”.

The 2016-17 Budget includes an increase of $50 million a year from 2019-20.

There is also an extra $60 million in funding for the Bridges Renewal Program and Black Spot Program.

ALGA president Troy Pickard, mayor of Joondalup Council, said the Budget confirmed the continuation of the Roads To Recovery program beyond 2018-19 but said more was needed to address the $1.2 billion annual funding shortfall to maintain Australia’s local roads and to support national productivity improvements.

“ALGA has called for additional funding for the Roads to Recovery program and the extra funds indicated in the Budget will be welcomed in helping to address the challenge of maintaining more than 640,000km of local roads,” Mayor Pickard said.

“But more needs to be done to ensure the local road network has the capacity required to address access, productivity and road safety issues, especially in regional areas.

“Additional investment in local roads must be part of the solution to increasing transport productivity on the nation’s transport network.”

The ALGA said the Budget also signalled an expectation that annual indexation of Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) would return in 2017-18 after being frozen for three years.

FAGs will provide $2.3 billion in untied funding to local government in 2016-17.

Mayor Pickard welcomed this expectation but emphasised again the need for a stronger, public commitment to the restoration of indexation.

“The three-year pause on FAGs indexation implemented in the 2014-15 Budget was unexpected and had a severe impact on the sector,” he said.

“We sought a specific commitment from the Federal Government and the Opposition to restore indexation.

“The indication that indexation is expected to return in 2017-18 is welcome although it does not completely guarantee an end to the freeze, which will reduce ongoing funding for councils around Australia by more $300 million per year.”

  Council