Toowoomba Regional Council provides update of 2024-25 budget deficit
The council has revealed some of the potential measures that will be introduced to plug a multimillion dollar budget blackhole.
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A hiring freeze and changes to how our pools are run are some of the measures Toowoomba Regional Council is looking to as it seeks to plug a multimillion budget blackhole.
In a statement released last week, Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald said inflationary pressure had reduced the council’s forecast $1 million surplus to a $14 million deficit in the 2024-25 Budget.
“We’ve been cutting the cloth for many months to reduce the forecast deficit,” he said.
“Things like reshaping the operation of our aquatic centres, delaying, and in some cases pausing recruitment activities, and using technology to drive efficiencies like electronic timesheets, are part of the practical solutions council has implemented to reduce expenses.
“Some of these cost-reducing measures will become more evident as they flow into our 2025-26 Budget development.”
It comes two weeks after council financial documents revealed an expanding projected deficit by June 30, up to $5.9m from the revised $5.7m figure in its budget review from March.
The rising price of electricity, insurance, fuel, and goods and services such as road making materials and general construction costs is behind the shortfall.
The council revised its budget in December last year, after it identified the $14 deficit.
Since then it has been able to claw its way back to about a $7 million deficit.
“We are continuing to work diligently to reduce it even further, and striving to eliminate it, before June 30,” he said.
It has been a tough term for the council as it works to fund a $270 million upgrade to the Cressbrook Dam spillway.
That upgrade has been mandated by state government regulation.
It will protect communities downstream during extreme rain events but will not add any storage capacity to the dam.
The council has asked for help from the state and federal government to cover part of that cost.
Most recently, it applied for $97 million through the Australian Government’s Disaster Ready Fund.
If the council cannot secure outside funding then it will have to increase out water rates by about $250 annually.
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