How financially sustainable is Toowoomba council?

A THOROUGH investigation into the future financial sustainability of Toowoomba Regional Council gave mostly “green lights” across key indicators.

A THOROUGH investigation into the future financial sustainability of Toowoomba Regional Council gave mostly “green lights” across key indicators. Picture: Contributed

A THOROUGH investigation into the future financial sustainability of Toowoomba Regional Council gave mostly "green lights" across key indicators.

A Queensland Audit Office examination through the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning inspected sustainability ratios, which measures whether councils can generate enough money to service and maintain infrastructure.

The department wants councils to reach a 90% ratio and the Toowoomba council was recorded as being at 82.68%.

Cr Mike Williams, who chairs the finance and business strategy committee, said he was pleased the council received positive outcomes in the report.

The one warning area was the lack of a risk strategy, which the Toowoomba council recently passed.

Cr Williams said the report reflected the careful nature of the council's progress since amalgamation to ensure it remained sustainable.

To be viable in the long-term councils must have an operating surplus and maintain their assets.

Cr Williams said councils across Queensland had artificially-high ratios due to an influx of external funding due to flood repairs from the 2011 event.

More money would be injected to councils following the destruction from Cyclone Debbie and while the Toowoomba council hadn't reviewed its assets since the storm, it was not expected to receive large amounts of cash from the Queensland Government, he said.

Cr Williams said the challenge faced by the council was to balance the need for new infrastructure, spurred by growth, and managing its existing assets that continued to age.

He said the council faced demand for projects like connecting to the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing and new developments across the region.

There are also old assets across the region that are reaching the end of their operational periods.

The report found most rural and regional councils were achieving operating surpluses mainly due to their ability to generate most of their operating income from rates, fees, services, and investments.

Originally published as How financially sustainable is Toowoomba council?