Published on Wednesday, 4 June 2025 at 9:00:00 AM
Hello, I’m Vivienne MacCarthy, President of the Shire of Donnybrook Balingup. Welcome to the Recap of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 28 May 2025.
Items 9.1.1 & 9.1.2: Fire Prevention Order & Nominated Fire Control Officers
At items 9.1.1 and 9.1.2, Council received and endorsed both the annual review of the Fire Prevention Order and the 16 nominated Fire Control Officers (FCOs). These volunteers play a critical role in responding to incidents and protecting the community, and we are all very grateful for their services.
As in previous years, the Fire Prevention Order for 2025/2026 will contain the contact details of the FCOs. Over the coming months, the Fire Prevention Order will be published to the Shire website for you to view at any time. Printed copies will be mailed to residents with extra copies available at the Shire Administration Office.
More about Firebreaks & Prevention
Item 9.1.4: 6-Year Capital Forward Roadworks Program
At item 9.1.4, Council received and endorsed a Capital Forward Roadworks Program, which provides a structured plan for future projects. The report presents the Shire’s intended Roadworks Program that will span the next six (6) financial years, from 2025-2026 through to 2030-2031. The plan ensures effective resource and budget allocations, efficient project timelines, and stakeholder engagement. It provides proactive mitigation of potential issues, and while this has always been a routine practice, the plan is now being shared in the spirit of transparency and community awareness. Projects are structured around our three (3) existing and ongoing funding sources that are available each year, being:
- South West Regional Road Group (SWRRG) Project Funding for preservation and improvement projects,
- Roads to Recovery (RTR / R2R), and
- Shire ‘Own Source’ funds.
There are many factors to consider in the development of the Shire’s annual capital forward roadworks program and the full report is available in the meeting minutes.
Item 9.2.3: 2025-2026 Schedule of Fees & Charges
At item 9.2.3, Council adopted the Schedule of Fees and Charges for the 2025-2026 financial year. Overall, there will be a generic increase of 5% to the majority of items within the schedule to absorb the increased cost of delivery.
It was noted that the costs for kerbside waste collection services will be determined at the time of adopting the 2025-2026 annual budget.
Council considered three (3) Agenda items that will inform the Shire’s 2025-2026 Budget. I will outline each of the items, and then provide a summary.
Item 9.2.8: Council Policy – Community Grants & Donations
Firstly, at item 9.2.8, Council adopted an amended Council Policy for Community Grants and Donations. This change has been adopted ahead of the budget to allow impacted community groups time to adapt. The overall financial impact of the change is a reduction of approximately 30% or $40,000 when compared with the 2024-2025 budget. The changes are designed to:
- Enhance transparency by clearly accounting for the value and scope of non-financial support provided by the Shire; and
- Promote equity by ensuring all community groups have fair and consistent access to these resources; and
- Support service reviews by enabling better tracking and evaluation of the Shire’s contributions to community development, and
- Show that grant applications that support climate change initiatives or promote WaterWise practices will be viewed more favourably than those that do not.
Item 9.3.1: 2025 Workforce Plan Review
At item 9.3.1, Council received the CEO’s Review of the Workforce Plan that sets out a new, temporary staffing model for the 2025-2026 financial year. The report reduces the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff from 64.78 to 61.85 and provides savings of approximately $170,000. Speaking in terms of the impact on rates, these savings are equivalent to reducing a rates increase by 2.2%.
Further revisions of the Workforce Plan will be undertaken following a review of the 2025-2026 Community Strategic Plan, and Council Plan. The Workforce Plan demonstrates that sound, strategic workforce planning, shapes the workforce with a clearly identified purpose of achieving our short and long-term goals set out within the Council Plan.
It is highly likely that further resourcing discussions will need to be held in future years to ensure that staff resourcing delivers the Shire’s high priority outcomes, including:
- Asset management,
- Environmental sustainability,
- Economic/tourism development, and
- Community development.
Item 9.2.6: 2025-2026 Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP)
At item 9.2.6, Council adopted the 2025-2026 review of Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) for the next 15 years. Last year, a benchmark was introduced to clearly identify the shortfall between the money held in our reserves and what what funds will be required to maintain or replace our assets over the next 15 years.
Last year, this figure showed 25.5% shortfall. I am very pleased to say that through our collaborative efforts – community, Council and Shire – this has been reduced by 8.7% to just 16.8%. Speaking in dollar terms, this means that we have reduced the shortfall from $1.8m by $0.5m to $1.3m. This favourable result means that the strategies adopted this time last year are working.
Last year, Council outlined four strategies, or ‘levers’ that can be used to close the sustainability gap:
- Increase recurring revenue,
- Reduce recurring expenditure,
- Review or ‘optimise’ our asset base, and
- Review services levels.
Within the first of these ‘levers’, Council agreed an indicative 4% allocation from rates income may be required to boost the asset maintenance reserve. In addition to this, Council considered the increased cost of day-to day operations, including increased cost materials, wages and superannuation.
These increases are somewhat offset by savings identified in the workforce plan and from changes to the Grants & Donations Policy.
With these factors in mind, Council agreed that a 4% increase may be required, bringing the net effect to an indicative rate increase of 8%.
Item 9.3.2: Financial Sustainability – Asset & Service Reviews
Finally, at item 9.3.2, Council received a report from the CEO that invokes the third of our strategic levers to achieve our financial sustainability goals, and that is to review our assets.
Our Shire is the custodian of approximately $335m in assets that we rely on to deliver the services we need, including roads, parks, footpaths and our many community and commercial buildings.
With approximately 3,500 ratepayers, our ability to fund the maintenance and renewal of these assets has been challenging. As the Shire’s asset base increases, so does the cost of maintenance and renewal works. This report puts forward a number of opportunities as Phase 1 of a plan to help address this challenge.
Council endorsed the recommendations in the report which include a community engagement program to ensure that while prioritising financial sustainability, we are still meeting the needs of the community. I encourage you to read this report and participate in the engagement program. Councillors welcome and need your feedback to help determine these decisions for the future.
Thank you for listening to this Recap covering the Ordinary Council Meeting for May 2025.
I am grateful to Councillors for the time spent to develop considered opinions on each of these items, for their courage in putting opinions forward and for the respect shown in receiving alternative views. I am grateful for the accuracy of the Executive Reports and for the insightful strategies and recommendations presented. I am also grateful to our community for the support we have received as we make and implement these difficult decisions.
You can find more information and documents related to our Council Meetings on the Shire website.
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