Council is on track to pay down some debt earlier than planned as it continues to reinforce long term financial sustainability.

Council CEO David Farmer said the organisation’s financial performance was currently exceeding planned forecasts.

“Our strong financial performance means that we can allocate surpluses to pay down some debt earlier than originally forecast and set aside funds for future needs, while we continue to prudently manage other financial challenges such as rising costs due to inflation,” Mr Farmer said.

At last night’s Council Meeting, the Council adopted an updated Restricted Funds Policy to include two new internal restrictions, Emergency Loan Repayment and Future Projects Reserve, and also approved the allocation of funds to these.

Funds of $50M have been allocated to Emergency Loan Repayment and will be used to pay down a portion of the emergency loans in December 2023.  This is when Council will refinance the balance of the second emergency loan which will have an outstanding balance of $82.6M in December 2023.  Council secured $150M in emergency loans in late 2020 to reimburse restricted funds unlawfully accessed. These external loans, the first $50M and the second $100M, were a financial recovery action and are required to be repaid within ten years from forecasted surpluses as outlined in Council’s Long Term Financial Plan.

Funds of $5M have been allocated to Future Projects Reserve to assist with planning ahead for future projects.

“These actions align with Council’s Financial Strategy that was adopted in August this year.  We will continue to review our financial position and consider additional transfers to the internal restrictions on a quarterly basis. 

“This is to ensure we can repay the emergency loans as soon as is practical and free up cash flow that we can direct into services that our community want, ” Mr Farmer said.  

Administrator Rik Hart said Council’s strong financial performance was another sign the organisation had left the financial crisis well behind it.

“The organisation is financially stable.  Our focus is on addressing those areas of concern where we are not meeting our community expectations on service delivery,” Mr Hart said.

“Our community is already seeing the benefit of more investment in road remediation and vegetation management, and soon will see an improvement in development assessment timelines as staff resources have been increased in that area,” Mr Hart said.

To stay up to date with information about Council finances and service delivery, go to:

• ‘Finance Monthly Reports’ at centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
• ‘Financial Strategy’ at centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
• ‘Delivery Program and Operational Plan 2022-23” at centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
• ‘Capital Works Program’ at centralcoast.nsw.gov.au