Annual Plan and Budget Estimates 2024-25

Published on 26 June 2024

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As adopted by Council 25 June 2024, Item AO095-24

In 2024-25, the Burnie City Council is delivering a $43.224 million budget to continue our momentum in achieving our commitment to the community – through Making a Better Burnie 2044, and the delivery of the Council Plan 2024-2027.

Highlights of the budget include:

  • An underlying surplus of $95,000
  • Investment in infrastructure: $29.765 million
  • Investment in essential city services: $8.728 million
  • Investment in important community facilities: $9.627 million
  • Investment in roads, footpaths and drainage: $4.272 million
  • Support for community connectedness through the Community Grants Program: $142,255
  • Successfully obtaining State and Federal Funding: $11.742 million

 

Annual Plan and Budget Estimates(PDF, 40MB)

 

Burnie City Mayor Teeny Brumby said:Profile.PNG

“This document outlines the Burnie City Council’s 2024-25 Annual Plan and Budget Estimates. It

shows how the Council will utilise the resources it has available to it, within the upcoming

financial year.

 

This document details the income (revenue) that is available to the Council this year, and the

allocation of those funds toward the many community programs, services, maintenance and

renewal of Council facilities and critical infrastructure we provide, and to meet other

responsibilities like our numerous compliance obligations.

 

During the past two years, Council has done significant work to repair its budget challenges.

This work is still ongoing as we consider how we build our cash for the future, so that we can

invest in strategic infrastructure and services to advance our city forward. I am often asked

why Council has to re-build its cash reserves, rather than just taking a loan for the new assets

we may wish to build. The fact is that Council has a couple of loans presently, the largest of

which does not get paid out until 2030. Until that loan is paid out, Council doesn’t have the

operational funds to pay the principal and interest on new loans. This is because the current

loan costs about $1.2 million each year to service.

 

Therefore, if we want to start reinvesting in the city by way of infrastructure - and we do - we are

just like a household - we need to save our own cash to invest in this infrastructure. We will

continue to work toward this as we pursue a more financially sustainable future for our

community.

 

We are committed to implementing our 20-year vision that we co-created with our community,

Making a Better Burnie 2044. I am so very proud that within this next financial year we will

deliver on a number of new key strategic projects for our City, in addition to the normal services

we provide, as we advance our city toward our future vision. Our community can look forward

to:

  • The Western section of the Coastal Pathway being completed
  • The new reimagined Burnie Arts being open
  • A new refurbished Civic Plaza adjacent to Burnie Arts being undertaken
  • Delivery of the Gateway project for the city
  • The Burnie City Centre Urban Plan for the City will be co-designed with community and

we will start implementing this Plan

  • We will deliver a West Park Oval Precinct Plan considering recreational pursuits we may

need at this site into the future

  • We will develop a Specific Purpose Plan with a view to creating housing opportunities in

the CBD on second storey buildings, as a way of increasing accommodation options and

increasing the number of rateable properties in our city

  • We will undertake a parking review to consider parking arrangements in the city and

opportunities for more free parking

  • We will develop a Connected Pathways Plan and seek government funding to start

implementing this Plan for our city

  • We will advocate for our sporting clubs to meet at the table to start discussions around a

future combined sporting precinct for Burnie

  • We will start to deliver our ambitious 4-year Asset Management Strategy which will see

our most utilised assets brought up to the appropriate standard, benefiting a whole

range of community organisations

  • We have a larger number of diverse events planned that we want to deliver in

collaboration with our event partners and we will start to plan for our bicentenary in 2027

 

The Burnie City Council is one of only a few Council’s that each year consult genuinely with it

its community about the Annual Plan and Budget Estimates priorities. This year the

community that participated in the consultation process told us that the originally planned

6.88% general rate increase may be too high for some in our community to afford, due to the

cost of living crisis. We have genuinely heard this and modified our rate increase to 5% in

response to this feedback.

This is a budget for the future and one that the community will benefit from in many ways. It

sets us on our journey of rebuilding to advance our city forward. It is an ambitious program,

with the challenge of a small staff to undertake what is required. We are up for this

challenge however and look forward to delivering all that is planned in the 2024-25 financial

year for the betterment of our city.

 

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