From the Mayor's Desk - 9 July 2024

Budget 2024-25

In late June, the Councillors and I adopted the 2024-25 budget, prioritising efficient service delivery and responsible financial management. This first budget of the new term maintains Goondiwindi Regional Council's debt-free status. It keeps rates as low as possible despite rising costs. It allocates resources towards core services, emphasising infrastructure renewal like parks, roads, and facilities. Focusing on efficiency ensures your resources are directed towards core services, not bureaucracy.

We maintain a small, efficient administrative and customer support team to handle day-to-day enquiries and a dedicated outdoor staff, who comprise 65% of our workforce. These outdoor crews are the backbone of our community service provision, ensuring parks, gardens, water, waste, sewerage, and roads are safe and functional and contribute positively to every resident's lifestyle.

We’re committed to delivering quality services that positively contribute to the lifestyle of every resident across the region, from Gore to Weengallon and Billa Billa to Texas. We invest beyond just infrastructure, focusing on contributing to vibrant and thriving communities. We continue to deliver essential services from libraries and community grants to sporting facilities.

By doing our core business well, we make our region a better place for families to live and enjoy and make it easier to invest in and do business.

Water & Sewerage Infrastructure Challenges

The last few weeks have seen several issues with the region's water and sewerage infrastructure. Residents can’t always see the investment required to maintain and replace over $65m worth of infrastructure, except in recent weeks when it hasn't been working at full capacity. 

Talwood town residents have been extremely patient as the crew has flushed out the system and replaced parts to address the turbidity issues currently being experienced. The process is taking longer than anticipated, and at the time of writing, there is still a boil water alert for town residents. To those residents impacted, we are working towards solutions as quickly as possible and we thank you for your understanding.

For Goondiwindi, the wastewater pump's failure over the weekend required urgent after-hours solutions by the local Council team, supported by a range of contractors. Whilst the current fix is only temporary and will require additional work in the coming weeks, we are thankful that residents assisted in limiting their wastewater outputs during the manual carting of the wastewater. 

These challenges are an example of why we must prioritise the core services of Council when it comes to our annual budget process. 

Supporting the Local Economy

I am also proud to report that over $55 million of Council’s 2023-24 budget has gone directly into the local economy, and prioritising local suppliers will continue into the upcoming year. This figure does not include the in-direct spend where a contractor external to the region may use local sub-contractors for equipment or services in their contract delivery. In essence, prioritising local spending creates a win-win situation, with council utilising local businesses for high-quality and timely services and the sustainability of our local community and economy.

Roads

Our road crews continue to be out and about across the region. In the last three weeks, the Council team has been active on Barwon Highway, Kioma Road, Daymar-Weengallon Road, lower Daymar Road, Merton Road, Meandarra-Talwood Road, Stanthorpe Inglewood Road, and Riverton Road, providing essential repairs, maintenance, and upgrades.  The roads budget for 2024-24 is $18.9 million, and we all understand the importance of quality roads to residents and businesses, particularly the agriculture sector.  Council estimates a shortfall of around $23 million for road infrastructure investment from the State and Australian governments.  The lack of investment is causing increased pressure on our quality local roads, for which we don’t receive external funding to maintain at state road standard.  The broad cross-section of the region that the Council road teams have traversed in recent weeks demonstrates our commitment to roads across the entire region.

Out and about across the region

Since my last From the Mayor's Desk, my fellow Councillors and I have had the pleasure of attending Border Rivers Christian College to discuss the region’s Disaster Management Plan. Students were actively engaged in discussion and activity about local disaster risks, creating evacuation plans, and, most importantly, what they and their families can do to prepare.  We never know when the next flood, storm or fire will occur, and I recommend that all households take the time regularly to ensure that they are prepared.

I also attended the Goondiwindi Lions changeover dinner. Lions Clubs are a worldwide network of volunteers who dedicate themselves to serving their communities. The annual local changeover dinner marks the transition of leadership from the outgoing president to the incoming one, signifying the continuation of the club's mission and the passing of the torch to ensure future good works. Congratulations to all those involved for the past year, and we look forward to working with the incoming team.

Telstra

Following concerns raised by residents, Council has facilitated an upcoming visit to the region from Telstra. I will personally be travelling the region with the representatives to specific sites where locals have reported mobile service drops after the 3G network switch.

Telstra has previously advised that the transition to 4G will provide a better experience for customers, with a commitment that people who could access the 3G network would get the same or better coverage on 4G.  Unfortunately, this is not the experience of many locally.

We know the importance of reliable mobile service for rural communities, and Council will continue to advocate strongly for solutions.