Sunshine Coast Council defers $38.4m of planned works into 2025/26 financial year

The Sunshine Coast Council has revealed deadline blowouts and increased costs have affected nearly $40m of projects, telling the community works will be completed “as we can afford them”.

Sunshine Coast Council city hall. Picture: Sam Turner

The Sunshine Coast Council has revealed deadline blowouts and increased costs have affected nearly $40m of projects, telling the community works will be completed “as we can afford them”.

The council’s chief financial officer, Michael Costello, delivered his first budget review for the 2024/25 financial year at the council’s ordinary meeting on Thursday.

The review revealed a number of projects, which were set to be completed by June this year, will now be deferred and carried into the next financial year.

Councillor Ted Hungerford said a number of economic pressures had increased the cost of a significant number of projects set to be completed across the Sunshine Coast.

“We’ve been in a period of a contracting economy, we have had high inflation in last two to three years, and a high interest rate environment that has impacted on the cost of our services we deliver to the community and delivering works,” Mr Hungerford said.

“That is not saying we are not doing them, it basically means we will do them as we can afford them.”

Plans for the Caloundra transport corridor upgrade.

Councillor Jenny Broderick said the projects would still be delivered with a “slight deferral”.

“Our capital expenditure has decreased by $38.4m but as Michael has laid out to me there are reasons for that and we are not going to be cutting those off, we are not stopping those projects we are merely deferring them into the next financial year,” Ms Broderick said.

“So just in case the community are worried about their projects being thrown under the bus for their divisions, it just means there might be a slight deferral.”

Councillor Terry Landsberg referred to projects in the Caloundra area which were “well behind schedule”, naming the Caloundra transport corridor upgrade and the Kings Beach surf lifesaving facility upgrade as those largely affected.

For residents living in division five, Councillor Winston Johnston said the $1.2m allocated to Christensens Rd at Palmwoods would also be “impossible” to spend within the current financial year.

The proposal to amend the budget to reflect the deferral of projects into the next financial year was unanimously supported by the council.