Decisions from the November 2022 Council Meeting
Published on 24 November 2022
Snowy Valleys Council met for its Ordinary Council meeting on Thursday 17 November 2022.
The Audited Financial Statements for the year ending 30 June 2022 were presented to Council by the External Auditor.
The Auditor outlined that Council’s overall operating result from continuing operations for 2021/22 was a deficit of $5.97 million.
The net operating result when excluding capital grants and contributions was a deficit of $19.72 million, largely due to depreciation expenses as a result of a revaluation of water and sewer assets required every five years.
“The Audited Financial Statements provides council with the insight into actions that are needed to be taken to bring council back to a financially viable position,” Mayor Ian Chaffey said.
The Quarterly Budget Review which provided a summary of Council’s financial performance against the original budget as at 30 September 2022 was also presented to Councillors.
Council’s projected result shows increased income of $5.66 million and increased expenditure of $4.85 million compared to the original budget and unrestricted cash reserves are estimated to be satisfactory at year end.
“The Quarterly Budget Reviews provides a good opportunity for Councillors to query our budget forecasts. Unless we keep our attention on what’s going on, it is easy for things to get out of hand,” said Cr Chaffey.
The Draft Snowy Valleys Tracks and Trails Masterplan was endorsed to go on public exhibition.
The Masterplan was developed to provide an aspirational long-term vision for the whole of the Snowy Valleys area and to guide future decision making about the management of, and investment in, tracks and trails development.
“One of the big bonuses that’s come out of the masterplan work is the identification of the huge potential in the many trails that already exist in our region,” Cr Chaffey said.
“The plan identifies options on how we can continue to develop them, promote them, and potentially give some ownership to those in the community who have a vested interest in seeing them be better utilised.”
The community is encouraged to find out more about the tracks and trails contained within the Draft Masterplan via council’s website.
Other notables from the meeting included:
- The University of Newcastle was appointed to prepare an independent and peer reviewed business case for the demerger of Snowy Valleys Council and council agreed to allocate $100,000 to the project.
- The 2021/22 Annual Report, which provides an overview of council programs, achievements and performance over the last financial year was endorsed to be submitted to the Office of Local Government.
- Council agreed to seek Government funding towards updating the 2019 Adelong Flood Study following the town’s recent main street flooding event.
- The updated Policy - Arrangements to Settle Accounts was endorsed for Public Exhibition.
- Councillors deferred decision on a Development Application at Little River to afford time for more information to be provided.
- Ten not-for-profit local events were approved for Council event sponsorship to the total value of $30,973.
- Agreement was given to enter into a long-term lease over the quarry and carriageway with Bald Hill Quarry Pty Ltd.
Following the meeting Mayor Ian Chaffey and Deputy Mayor Trina Thomson chatted to camera about the discussions and decisions made, with the recording shared via facebook and posted on Council’s YouTube channel.
The meeting livestream is also available via Council’s YouTube channel and the meeting’s business papers and minutes can be found on Council’s website – www.svc.nsw.gov.au/council-meetings
The next Ordinary Meeting of Council will be held on Thursday 8 December 2022 starting at 2pm.
The agenda and business papers will be available from the SVC website or by contacting customer service one week prior to the meeting date.
-ENDS-