Proposed 2021-22 budget changes

THE Upper Hunter Shire Council 2021-22 budget proposal will be put before Council at the ordinary meeting next Monday and includes a $2 million road budget increase.

The proposed budget allocation has a $110 million expenditure cap, with roughly $50 million going towards public works and a total of $5.5 million towards roads.

Upper Hunter Shire General Manager Greg McDonald said this year, road funding will focus that on the rural road network as “thats where it’s needed most.”

“We’ve been consistently hearing that the road conditions and the road maintenance hasn’t been up to scratch,” Mr. McDonald said.

“Rather than the $3.5 that has been spent annually on roads to date, we’re adding another $2 million, roughly increasing it by 60 percent,” he said.

Mr. McDonald assured residents Council will not take the additional $2 million from other services.

“We’re not cutting services, we’re doing by two means. There’s a little bit of belt tightening within Council itself . . . using that money back towards the roads instead of internally, through our management costs,” Mr. McDonald said.

“We also currently fund our plant equipment by owning it outright, so there’s quite a bit of money tied up in our plant equipment fund. We’re looking at leasing that, rather than having that money tied up in an asset thats depreciating,” he said.

“We will pay a lease rate and that frees up money to go back to the roads. You can only do it once of course because once your plants depreciate, you no longer have that asset base and need to keep going with the leasing arrangement,” he said.

“That’ll be a strategy for next year and depending on the Council, the next few years because you won’t be able to do it all in one year, it’s going to need a couple of years with this type of funding to get our roads up to scratch,” said Mr. McDonald.

If the proposed budget is approved by Council on Monday, it will go on public exhibition for 28 days. 

Council will then hold community meetings in Scone, Murrurundi, Merriwa, Aberdeen and Cassilis to discuss the proposed budget with residents.