Council to cut services, projects amid forecast budget blowout

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor has defended the decision to axe projects and slash services as part of a $400m spending cut that has been slammed by opposition parties as they demand to know which projects will suffer.

Council projects will be wound back as overspending is reined in.

Brisbane City Council will axe projects and slash services as part of a major $400m spending cut in the face of a budget blowout.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has ordered the equivalent of $1.6m in spending be cut each day from the city’s behemoth $4.2bn budget in an effort to keep a lid on future rate increases heading into an election year.

Residents will pay the same amount for fewer services, but Cr Schrinner insists the emergency budget cut until June 30 is critical as the council attempts to wrestle a forecast budget blowout next year – fuelled by the soaring cost of construction labour and materials, goods and services.

Cr Schrinner confirmed council-run projects and services would be on the hit list as the administration eyes a 10 per cent reduction in expenditure until the end of the financial year.

Brisbane Metro and the green bridge building program as well as advertising, consultants, travel and councillor ward budgets will be affected by the cut.

The already delayed Toowong to West End Green Bridge and the shading of Victoria Bridge -estimated at $5m – as part of the Brisbane Metro project will be paused indefinitely.

Brisbane Metro is still expected to open in late 2024.

Cr Schrinner argued the council-wide savings push would prevent “avoidable costs” being passed on to Brisbane ratepayers, but was unable to detail the extent of services and projects affected.

He said waste collection would be unaffected.

No directly employed council worker will be made redundant, but contractors could face an uncertain future.

The spending cut is likely to have major ramifications across the four-year forward estimates, with projects at risk of being completely axed, or cost more.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner

On Tuesday morning Cr Schrinner defended the budget cut as “corrective action” to avoid future rate rises, while failing to provide ratepayers detail on exactly which services and projects will bear the brunt of the cuts.

He refused to reveal when council realised it would need to make the 10 per cent cutbacks.

“It’s not so much about today. It’s about the 30th of June and making sure we’re in the right position,” he said.

He also remained tight lipped on exactly how and which council services and projects, including roads and footpaths, would be affected.

“The rubbish will be collected, the buses and ferries will run,” he said.

When asked whether inflation considerations or budget calculation mistakes were made prior to the release of the 2023-24 council budget in June, Cr Schrinner said “it’s never a mistake to keep rates low”.

“This is about modifying, trimming back on the nice things to keep doing the essential things and making sure we keep rates low,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition Jared Cassidy slammed the announcement, saying it would “go down like a lead balloon” with residents.

“I think Adrian Schrinner is going to be punished for this, but it’s a long time coming,” he said.

But Cr Schrinner remained confident residents would continue to trust his office ahead of next years elections

“We’re being very upfront with people are saying we need to find these savings,” he said.

“And when we’ve found these savings, they’ll go through the normal budget review process.”

Cr Cassidy said the cutbacks were “extraordinary” following the release of the council budget just three months ago.

He said the LNP on Tuesday morning revealed it had been working on the cutback plans “for the last few weeks”.

“But they still won’t tell us which projects will be cut except for a bit of shade over the Victoria Bridge,” he said.

“If he (Cr Schrinner) is going to cut $1.6 million from suburban projects and services he needs to come clean today.

“People around Brisbane shouldn’t be waiting months to find out whether their local sporting clubs (are) not going to get upgraded or whether their local parks are gonna get upgraded.”

The remodified budget is expected to be handed down by the end of November.

Brisbane ratepayers will head to the polls next March, when the LNP faces a two-pronged assault from Labor and a resurgent Greens under controversial mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan.

Add-on elements of construction projects will be removed or descoped in an effort to shave expenditure across the budget.

The spending cut comes four months after the council trumped a “record investment” in its 2023-24 budget and allocated $1.4bn to “build a better Brisbane” serviced, in-part, by an average rate rise of 3.5 per cent.

Cr Schrinner said soaring contract and construction costs since the budget meant a 10 per cent spending cut was necessary.

“We’re being upfront about this tough decision but make no apology for prioritising keeping costs down for households,” he said.

“Other governments might be happy to take the easy route to just keep spending and force up costs but our council team is not prepared to do that during a cost-of-living crisis.

“I believe people will agree that reducing spending to keep costs down is the right thing to do at the moment.”

The council said internal projections and analysis had forecast cost overruns which would have had to be funded by ratepayers.

Brisbane Civic Cabinet finance chair Fiona Cunningham said a project and services hit list would be revealed in the council’s quarterly budget review.

“While some proposed projects may be paused, the majority will be delivered on time however council officers will be working hard over coming months to descope and remove unnecessary costs,” she said.

“For example, projects such as the Brisbane Metro include a public art requirement and some of this will now be removed to reduce costs.”

Labor’s mayoral candidate for the 2024 election, Tracey Price, lunged at the cuts announcement to accuse the Lord Mayor for mismanaging the budget.

“It couldn’t be clearer that the Lord Mayor and the LNP have their priorities all wrong,” she said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

“Labor has been calling the LNP out on their massive budget blowouts since 2019.

“The answer has always been there’s nothing to see – sadly, today we know that is not the

case at all.

“I’m extremely disappointed that projects and services will be under attack, as well as

people’s jobs and livelihoods in this difficult time.”

Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Mr Sriranganathan labelled the cuts “financial mismanagements.”

“We are very disappointed to see that once again the Toowong to West End Green Bridge has been postponed,” said Mr Sriranganathan.

“Schrinner already promised they’d start work on that five years ago and once again they’re delaying it.”

Mr Sriranganathan said the delayed project was key to help reduce cars on the road.

“It’s just financial mismanagement.”

“The more it’s delayed the more likely the cost of finishing the project will increase which is why it’s so stupid that the council is reducing the contributions developers make towards infrastructure.”

“Projects like the Toowong to West End Green Bridge are intended to help cater for population growth and ensure that all the new residents of high-rise apartments have an alternative to driving.”

Mr Sriranganathan said he would like to see more sustainable spending from Brisbane council.

“If we spend more money on pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, public transport and active transport infrastructure we will save money in the long term,” he said.

“If elected next year we will make developers pay their fair share, there will be plenty of money to spend on new infrastructure projects.

“Major property developers are making massive profits but they are not contributing their fare share towards the cost of new infrastructure.”