HEY BIG SPENDER
Low rate rise but council warns of fiscal pain ahead
$1 a week rate increase in 2020-21
Higher rate hits in years to come
Huge dollars in this spending spree
CAIRNS Mayor Bob Manning has handed down a 2020-21 budget with a record $181 million capital works program and a low $1 a week rate rise of 1.8 per cent.
But he has warned that in a bid to invigorate the city’s economy, which also includes nearly $400m this year in other local spending, there will be pain in the following two years with higher rate rises.
HOUSEHOLDS will cop an average dollar-a-week rates increase as Cairns Regional Council delves into the red to keep the wolves at bay.
Mayor Bob Manning (right) has handed down a 2020-21 budget with a record $181 million capital works program — all while keeping rate rises in line with CPI at 1.8 per cent.
Expenditure exceeding revenue is an unsustainable model and the council will go into debt for at least the next two volatile years.
It does so with purpose, having deemed two relatively modest short-term budgetary deficits to be worth the jobs and economic stimulus a major infrastructure spend would create.
Spending big in lean times may be counterintuitive but Mr Manning said the community needed the council to dig in. “Why would we be doing the biggest ever capital works program at a time when we’ve got such difficulty?” he said. “Because we can — our books are in reasonable shape.
“The idea is getting as much money as we can out there to help our local builders, contractors, giving them a chance to stay on their feet.
“We might be using credit cards for a year or two, but it won’t be long. This is all manageable stuff.”
The council’s proud run of seven consecutive budgets with rate rises kept at or below CPI is also doomed by circumstance to meet its end.
A new three-year recovery plan indicates 2.8 per cent rises will be required in the next two financial cycles before the ledgers are back in balance in 2022-23.
Capital works programs will likely also need to be reined in.
“We’ve got a budget hole that we’ve got to fill,” Cr Manning said. “It will take us three years to get our budget back to balance. We will work hard at trying to bring that budget in at less than 2.8 per cent. That will be our target.”
The budget does not skimp on big projects. The full $28.7 million cost for the Esplanade outdoor dining precinct transformation has been set aside, $10.9 million will go towards the Northern Beaches Leisure Trail and $3.9 million will be spent on building new rock groynes at Holloways Beach and a rock wall at Yorkeys Knob.
Facilities at Crystal Cascades will receive a $750,000 overhaul and about $800,000 will go towards expanding the CCTV network and upgrading the monitoring room.
“This is not the time to get defensive and think small,” Cr Manning said.
“This is the time to reach out, be bold, remain focused on what needs to be done to lift economic growth and be resolute in how we go about pursuing these goals.”