Council has met all milestones and targets in its Financial Recovery Plan that was put in place in late 2020. These actions have been taken to ensure Council’s ongoing financial sustainability. The focus of Council is now on consolidating and improving the performance of the organisation.

Background

Council took a number of decisive actions in response to uncovering its financial issues in late 2020. Cost management measures included staff reductions, sale of property assets and obtaining $150 million in emergency bank loans to reimburse the $200 million in restricted funds that had been spent unlawfully on projects that the community had benefited from.  This included $69 million of capital works projects delivered earlier than intended and a continuation of the same level of services for water and sewer, even though ratepayers had reduced rates equating to a loss of approximately $120 million in revenue to Council over three years to deliver these services.

These cost management measures made up 70% of what was needed to satisfy the external lenders that Council finances were getting back on track.  The other 30% comes from the temporary 13% special rate variation (plus 2% rate peg) approved by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in May 2021 for three years, and then approved by IPART for a further seven years in May 2022.

The external loans are required to be repaid within ten years from current and forecasted surpluses as outlined in our ten year Long Term Financial Plan.

There has been no fraud, corruption or criminal activity that has caused the financial issues of Central Coast Council.  A Public Inquiry was conducted at the direction of the NSW Government and the final report released on 17 March 2022.

Tighter budget management controls, financial governance and financial reporting have been implemented.