Inverell Shire Mayor Kate Dight will highlight cost shifting onto local government in a Mayoral Minute at today’s Council meeting.
Mayor Dight says the unrelenting growth of cost shifting to councils, coupled with rate pegging and insufficient state and federal funding, is increasingly eroding the possibility of financially sustainable local government and risking the capacity of councils to deliver the essential infrastructure and services required by their communities.
The independent cost shifting report revealed that $1.5 billion of expense has been imposed on councils during the 2023/2024 financial year, an increase of approximately $140 million since the last report for the 2021/22 financial year.
Mayor Dight says the inflated costs means more pain for rate payers adding it’s unfair to our communities that such a large portion of their rates are being diverted away from local priorities.
