Acting Mayor and councillors discuss Townsville City Council’s current financial position

Townsville’s Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said Council has faced some ‘hard truths’ over the last 12 months, but said the focus has been ‘realigned’ to ensure Council improves its financial position.

Townsville City Council Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney.

Townsville’s Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said Council has faced some ‘hard truths’ over the last 12 months, but said the focus has been ‘realigned’ to ensure Council improves its financial position.

The Mid-Year Budget review for 2024/25 was presented at Wednesday’s council meeting, showing Council’s operating revenue was $7.8 million above budget.

Concerns were raised and discussed in January for the first council meeting of 2025, with councillors asking questions over the financial state of the council.

At the time the November and December Treasury reports showed the cash balance for December was $5.5 million - $26.8 million less than November.

These figures caused Councillor Andrew Robinson to question if Council was facing insolvency, saying the numbers were “alarming” and that council would “need to keep a sharp eye on it.

On Wednesday, the January Treasury report showed council had a cash balance of $2.8 million.

Combined with the balance of the working capital loan, council has a cash composition of $61.4 million.

Council’s capital income was recorded as $53.3 million compared to a budget of $52.4 million.

“Despite the challenges, our capital program continues to move forward, which is all part of our plan for future service delivery requirements and creating economic growth in the capital of North Queensland,” Cr Greaney said.

“By investing heavily in delivering our core services in the 2024/25 budget I truly believe that kind of investment has helped our region fare as well as it could, off the back of recent severe weather.”

The acting mayor also said there had been a focus internally to look at how Council can be more innovative when it comes to ‘stretching each dollar to give ratepayers the best bang for buck.

“Not only have we improved our operating deficit by $5.3 million, to $19.5 million, but so far the team have found $1.4 million through a number of organisational reforms and efficiencies,” she said.

“This is just the beginning of a major reform effort to identify better and more efficient ways to serve our community, with further savings and service improvements still to come.

Councillors also voted on Wednesday to adopt the new strategic corporate plan entitled Townsville 2025 -2029.

The plan, which aims to be a ‘road map’ for Council in the next five years, focuses on four key goals for Townsville including being a city for everyone, a sustainable city, a future-ready city and a well-managed city.

Originally published as Acting Mayor and councillors discuss Townsville City Council’s current financial position