Planning beyond the pandemic
LATER this month, the council will release two important draft documents that will shape the way we serve this community throughout our current term.
They are our four-year strategic blueprint, Our Community Plan 2021-2025, and our budget for the 2021-22 financial year.
The two are closely linked in that the 2021-22 budget will set us on the path towards achieving the goals in our four-year plan.
By extension, the four-year plan will carry us closer to the aims of the community’s long-term
“Clever and Creative” vision, now four years into its 30-year lifespan.
The Our Community Plan document will guide the council in directing investment to where the community has told us it’s most needed, while remaining financially responsible and continuing to deliver a wide range of services.
It will address all matters relevant to local government’s role in the community, such as building and maintaining facilities, sustainable development, arts and culture, tourism, transport connections and supporting both inclusivity and diversity.
Put together with the help of data from both a community survey and a series of community workshops, it’ll help us set greater Geelong up for a financially, environmentally and socially sustainable future.
The plan will also have a strong focus on health and wellbeing.
When it comes down to it, the heart of the council’s role is to contribute as best we can towards creating a happy and healthy community. That has never been more apparent than during the past 12 months, when so much of what brings health and happiness to our collective lives was taken away.
For example, we saw just how much our community missed our leisure facilities, playgrounds, and access to their local neighbourhood centres and sporting clubs when they were forced to close.
Financially, we know that we are approaching this next budget off the back of a very difficult,
COVID-affected year. At the time our current budget was endorsed back on June 30, the forecast was for an operating deficit of almost $25m for 2020-21.
A fair portion of that deficit can be attributed to the support measures we put in place to help both local business and the community negotiate the lockdown restrictions last year. There is no doubt that was the correct approach — in fact it was our responsibility to the community.
But at the same time, the council has recognised that ongoing large deficits will not be sustainable.
In developing our upcoming budget, we have been working hard at striking the right balance between remaining financially prudent, and continuing to deliver services and infrastructure for the growing number of people who call greater Geelong home.
Back in December, we established an expenditure review panel to make recommendations on where savings could be made in the current and/or future budgets.
This process included a call for the community to contribute its cost savings ideas — which were gathered via the City of Greater Geelong website throughout December and January. The panel has since presented its recommendations, which will go into the mix with the many other pieces of information and intelligence that contribute to creating a $500m-plus budget.
For the first time this year we also introduced a formal process by which residents could make suggestions about specific projects or investment they would like to see included in the draft budget.
Councillors have always carried out this type of research informally in their local communities, but collecting these suggestions formally added an extra layer of valuable community insight.
In each of the past two years, we have delivered budgets featuring record investment in capital infrastructure — things such as sporting pavilions, childcare centres, community hubs, playgrounds, roads and shared paths. Given the rapid rate of population growth, we face pressure to continue a high level of investment in new facilities, while at the same time maintaining our existing facilities to the expected level.
And even though we will unveil an exciting list of funded projects that will bring huge community benefit, there will no doubt still be work to do to meet further funding requests in the future.
Trent Sullivan is City of Greater Geelong deputy mayor
WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT, THE HEART OF THE COUNCIL’S ROLE IS TO CONTRIBUTE AS BEST WE CAN TOWARDS CREATING A HAPPY AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY.