Operating grants
Operating grants from state and federal governments help us deliver services to ratepayers. Operating grants can be either:
- recurrent, meaning they are received each year
- non-recurrent, meaning they are once off or short term.
For 2022–23, we have budgeted a decrease to operating grant funding by 50.8% or $5.89 million, compared to the 2021–22 forecast. This is due to:
- $5.48 million decrease in recurrent operating grants. This is mainly because the Victorian Local Government Grants Commission (VLGGC) brought forward 75% or $3.93 million of the 2022–23 allocation to the 2021-22 financial year
- $413,000 decrease in non-recurrent operating grants This is mainly because of a reduction in COVID-19-related grant funding
- a partial offset with streetscape and transport grants, including $691,000 from the North East Link and $265,000 for the removal of the Union Road level crossing.
After adjusting for the Victorian Local Government Grants Commission, the total for operating grants is expected to decrease by 2.9%. The small decrease in operating grants and subsidies show that the trend of grant income is not keeping up with the spending required to deliver services to the community. As a result, there is an increasing financial burden on Council and our ratepayers.
Operating grants by type and source, classified into recurrent and non-recurrent
Capital grants
Capital grants from state and federal governments and community sources help us fund the Capital Works Program.
The amount of capital grants we receive each year can change a lot depending on the type of works in the Capital Works Program.
Capital grants can be either:
- recurrent, meaning they are received each year
- non-recurrent, meaning they are once off or short term.
For 2022–23, we have budgeted for capital grants funding to total $2.62 million. This is a decrease in capital grant funding of $13.31 million compared to 2021–22.
The largest grants for 2022–23 include:
- $1.19 million from the Commonwealth Government Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program
- $800,000 – the third instalment of $1.60 million for Canterbury Community Precinct from the Department of Education and Training Grant
- $593,811 from the Commonwealth Government Roads to Recovery Program covering roads pavement renewal works.