Sunshine Coast Council reveals $1.6m overtime cost blowout in financial performance report
The Sunshine Coast Council has revealed there was a $1.6m budget blowout in employee overtime in the 2023/2024 financial year, blaming staffing issues for “productivity losses”.
Sunshine Coast
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The Sunshine Coast Council has revealed there was a $1.6m budget blowout in employee overtime in the 2023-2024 financial year, blaming staffing issues for “productivity losses”.
The council’s ordinary meeting was held on Wednesday morning, where an interim June 2024 Financial Performance Report was provided by the chief financial officer.
According to the council’s meeting documents, councillor Maria Suarez raised questions regarding the nature of the overtime payments, including whether the $1.6m figure was expected to be an ongoing cost.
Ms Suarez also asked for clarification on what the overtime was for.
The response to Ms Suarez stated $1m was attributed to planned and recurring overtime, while $288,000 was related to back pay for the Cribb Allowance and $312,000 was related to business areas without planned overtime.
The response went on to attribute the dramatic rise in overtime expenses to “productivity losses”.
“Overtime expenses have increased due to productivity losses caused by staffing and systems issues,” the response stated.
The report also stated the council made more than $22m less than expected in revenue for the financial year.
According to the report the revenue was below budget by $22.4m, largely due to the late payment of a $10.5m grant.
“The early payment of the 2024-25 Financial Assistance Grant was received 2 July, and therefore cannot be recognised in the 2023-24 financial year, resulting in $10.5m shortfall in the budget,” the report stated.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokeswoman said the delay resulted in the “shortfall of anticipated revenue.”
“Council did see a shortfall in anticipated revenue of $22.4 million. A significant part of this relates to the Financial Assistance Grant of $10.5 million which was received on 2 July 2024,” she said.
“As it was received after 30 June 2024 it is not recognised in the 2023-24 financial year in which it was budgeted.”
The report also stated the joint federal and state government Disaster Ready Fund Arrangement Street Trees Grant, which was to contribute $3.2m to the council’s budget, was not received in 2023-24 as expected.
The council’s debt at the close of the 2023-2024 financial year sat at $434m, a decrease by $8m on the previous year.
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