Councils have been let down with no new local government programs in the 2025-2026 Federal Budget, the central west's representative local government body says.
This is despite an interim report from a federal inquiry into the financial sustainability of the sector shining a spotlight on how councils are delivering more services to their communities with their restricted resources.
Cr Kevin Beatty, Cabonne mayor and chair of the Central NSW Joint Organisation, said some relief from the Federal Government would have been great.
“This bites more so for councils in Central NSW who provide all sorts of services their metropolitan cousins don’t, ranging from medical services to airports and everything in between," Cr Beatty said.
Councils, Cr Beatty said, have been asking for decades to have Federal Assistance Grants returned to one per cent of Commonwealth taxation.
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"The last time they equalled one per cent was back in 1996," he said.
In 2025-26, local governments will receive $3.45 billion in federal Financial Assistance Grants, which is approximately 0.51 per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue.
“Federal Assistance Grants are untied meaning every community can spend it on local issues, projects and key priorities," Cr Beatty said.
"It is so helpful when rate income has deteriorated in real terms and councils keep getting unfunded mandates.
“A salient example of these unfunded mandates is the recent cemeteries and crematoria regulation which has cost councils across the region up to $400K and this is on top of extra costs being charged to the community.
“It is awful to see councils having to wind back programming for their community to pay for NSW government regulation."
The Australian Local Government Association is calling on candidates for the Federal election on 3 May to "put our communities first".
Their five national funding priorities are:
• Enabling infrastructure to unlock housing supply;
• Community infrastructure;
• Safer local roads;
• Increased local government emergency management capability and capacity; and
• Climate change adaption to help meet Federal targets.
