October 11, 2022
South Burnett Regional Council will shave its standing committee meetings from three per month down to two so it can put more time into planning its next Budget.
At its most recent Ordinary Meeting, Councillors voted to hold Infrastructure, Environment and Compliance standing committee meetings on the first Wednesday of each month, and Liveability, Governance and Finance meetings on the second Wednesday.
Ordinary Meetings – which ratify decisions taken at the standing committees – will continue to be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
The change will free up time for Budget Committee meetings, which the Council plans to hold regularly until next June.
The first Budget Committee meeting will be held in the Council’s Glendon Street chambers at 1:00pm on Monday, October 24.
Budget Committee meetings will be open to the public and livestreamed, like standing committee and ordinary meetings.
The move to begin holding Budget meetings nine months ahead of the 2022-23 Budget comes after several Councillors said they were concerned they had insufficient time previously to thoroughly examine all aspects of the 2021-22 Budget before passing it.
Given the unstable economic environment, they thought putting more time into the planning process might yield a better result.
CEO Mark Pitt said while he had no objection to the changes in Council’s meeting schedule, the new schedule probably would not come into full operation until November.
This was partly because the change would require modifications to the software used to prepare meeting agendas and reports, and partly because the Local Government Association’s annual conference on October 17-19 meant that he, Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones, Cr Scott Henschen, Cr Jane Erkens and Cr Kirstie Schumacher would be absent for several days mid-month.
Councillors agreed to the changes unanimously.
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