Mayor calls for re-think of government funding

TOOWOOMBA Regional Council mayor Paul Antonio has used the delivery of the 2018/19 council budget to call for a re-think of the country’s funding model for local government.

Echoing comments made at the National General Assembly of Local Government in Canberra this week, Cr Antonio said local governments in Queensland managed 25% of the state’s assets, while only taking 3% of tax revenue.

“I am concerned about the future of local government with the current funding arrangements,” he said.

“Now, we are the community builders, we are the people who in fact know what is happening in our community.

“We’re the people who build the parks, the roads, the sewerage treatment plants, all those sorts of things.

“The current situation is that there’s so much uncertainty about external funding, that I think now is the time that we have a grown-up discussion around the future of local government.”

The current model of competitive grant application funding from state and federal governments creates two problems. Budgets cannot be created to allow for competitive capital grants.

When councils are successful in applying for a grant, it’s often on the condition that the council matches state or federal government contribution on a 50/50 basis. That means councils have to re-prioritise funding within their current budget to obtain the grant.