News

It’s clear that climate change is rapidly changing the risk environment for public assets, and that is putting pressure on the mechanisms we have in place to fund maintenance and replacement of commun...

In some local governments, the forced mergers of 2016 are very unpopular, and the groundswell of support for demerging and returning to the former councils has not waned over time. The Government soug...

NSW councils must review their delegations during the first 12 months of each term of office. This is a requirement of section 380 of the NSW Local Government Act 1993 (LGA), which means councils must review their delegations by 4 December 2022.

The IPART determination process for special rate variations has been in place in New South Wales for just over ten years. Over that time, the assessment criteria have been refined and the process clarified. 70% of NSW councils have gone through the process at least once, but it is still not a day-to-day activity for a local council.

If you haven’t included a special rate variation (SRV) in your long-term financial plan or can’t demonstrate that you have worked to improve your council’s productivity, do not pass GO for your SRV application. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) assesses SRVs against five criteria and it’s not too late for 2023/24...

Contemplating a special rate variation (SRV) can be very daunting for a council, no one wants to tell people that they need to pay more tax. But just like rate capping, SRVs are here to stay and there are good reasons why councils need them.

The announcement of the 2022/23 rate peg sees further financial pressure on councils, with some 88 councils across NSW receiving a rate peg increase of less than 1% - over two-thirds of councils. This has an immediate impact on councils’ long term financial resource planning, as many councils were estimating increases around 2%. Councils will need to reconsider the budgeting and financial forecast implications for the 2022/23 year and beyond.

Project management experts often say that the majority of project failures are caused by poor planning. This can sound like the words of a Monday-morning quarterback - only wise in hindsight. If projects that fail are those that experience the biggest unforeseen risks, how can you plan for risks you didn’t foresee? How can you improve project planning without a crystal ball?