Have your say on Frankston City Council’s 2021-2031 Financial Plan

Published on 07 September 2021

Aerials-Central-Frankston.jpg

Mayor Kris Bolam has encouraged residents to have their say and provide input on Frankston City Council’s proposed 2021-2031 Financial Plan.

Mayor Bolam said the Plan demonstrates how Council will continue to responsibly deliver community services and infrastructure while maintaining a sound financial position over the next decade.

“Council’s focus is on delivering services, maintaining assets and investing in new infrastructure that will support our growing population while cementing Frankston City as the Lifestyle Capital of Victoria and moving towards achieving our 2040 Vision as being the place on the Bay to learn, live, work and play in a vibrant and socially supportive community.

“Council has again successfully risen to the challenge of preparing a sound ten year Financial Plan that is capable of withstanding the Victorian Government’s imposed rate cap, which will undoubtedly continue to restrict Council’s income, risking our ability to deliver the vital services and infrastructure our community needs,” the Mayor said.

Mayor Bolam added: “While this is a long-term Financial Plan that spans a decade, Council is also aware of the potential serious immediate and possible long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Plan.

“As a Council, we have responded quickly to the changing needs of the community with our Relief and Recovery Package (part of the 2020–2021 Annual Budget), which includes a $3.86 million investment in vital community supports – taking the total to $9.128 million in ongoing assistance for our community.

“Council is committed to delivering the best for our community, with an exciting $575 million Capital Works program planned over the ten years. This is complemented by a significant $293 million investment into maintain and expand existing infrastructure and to safeguard its future use,” Mayor Bolam said.

Mayor Bolam added: “Council has also invested in transforming the way we deliver our services to the community with our Future Ready Frankston Program. We have also worked hard to find savings and keep costs down without compromising on the quality of the services that Council delivers.

“Council will continue to passionately advocate to Victorian and Federal Governments alongside our community for funding towards projects that continue this transformation into the perfect place to live, learn, work, invest and enjoy,” the Mayor said.

Mayor Bolam urged residents to provide feedback on how we can continue to shape the future of Frankston City as a liveable, innovative and proud community and work towards achieving our shared vision.

Council CEO Phil Cantillon said the proposed 2021-2031 Financial Plan has been prepared after significant consultation with the community, elected Members and Council staff.

Mr Cantillon said: “The Plan focuses on ensuring that Council continues to invest in core infrastructure, deliver key services and reinforce the City of Frankston’s resilience to future challenges.

“It has also been designed to align with six key areas – promoting healthy and safe communities, community strength, a sustainable environment, a well-planned and liveable city, a thriving economy and a progressive and engaged city – that residents clearly told us were of value and importance.

“Our journey in developing the Plan began with an unprecedented community consultation throughout 2020 and early 2021, and included the creation of our first-ever Community Panel,” Mr Cantillon said.

Mr Cantillon added: “This panel was independently selected to represent the diverse needs of our community and developed the Community Vision Frankston 2040.

“Councillors and Council staff workshopped current and future challenges for Frankston City and opportunities to create the municipality that our residents have told us they want to live in.

“COVID-19 has had a major impact on the Council’s finances and like many households, we have to make savings to our day-to-day spending on operating and maintaining our services and infrastructure,” Mr Cantillon said.

Mr Cantillon said at the heart of Council’s decision making is the goal of promoting community wellbeing and transforming the way we deliver our services. Balancing our environmental goals and responsibilities with building a caring, welcoming and prosperous community often means making hard decisions.

Mr Cantillon added: “We’ve considered what you’ve told us is important to you – delivering the basics and doing it better – and what we need to do to continue making progress.

“This draft Financial Plan represents our best option for how we navigate the balance between meeting our City’s needs and maintaining a strong financial position.

“If we spend more, we won’t be able to deliver on our ambitions and will leave ourselves less financial room in the event of another unplanned event such as the pandemic. If we spend less, the condition of our infrastructure assets and the quality of the services we deliver will be at risk. We also need to play our role in stimulating the economic and social recovery after the pandemic,” Mr Cantillon said.

Mr Cantillon said given there is no simple solution to address our current financial situation, Council has looked at a selection of ‘levers’ available:

  • Focusing on what we can afford and actually delivering our capital works.
  • Finding permanent efficiencies in our day-to-day spending (operational spending).
  • Borrowing for new projects that have a long term value, ensuring that the debt repayments are spread fairly across the generations of ratepayers who will benefit from them.

Mr Cantillon said: “This Plan includes targeted recurrent savings of $0.5 million each year, which equate to $32.6 million cumulative savings over ten years. These savings will be achieved mainly through our Future Ready Frankston Program, which will ensure that Council transforms the way we deliver our services without compromising on the quality of the service.

“The Future Ready Frankston Program will focus on four critical performance areas – culture, capability, connectivity and customer, which will enable us to deliver better outcomes for our community,” Mr Cantillon said.

Some of the initiatives Council will be carrying out in the future include:

  • Continuing to engage with the community to understand the key services Council delivers and the method of delivery;
  • Asset rationalisation and establishing target service levels;
  • Collaborative procurement initiatives and joint services;
  • Finding alternative revenue streams; and
  • Increased advocacy to fund existing projects.

Residents can have their say on the Plan until 5pm, 28 September 2021. Feedback will be reviewed by Council officers and where appropriate incorporated into the Plan before being submitted to Councillors for their meeting in October. For more information and to have your say, please visit https://engage.frankston.vic.gov.au/financial-plan

Tagged as:
Back to top