Audit confirms debt ‘backlog’

An auditor’s report into the city’s finances has revealed the Bunbury City Council is still well behind in bridging a multi-million dollar gap to maintain its roads, footpaths, buildings and other assets.

Mayor Gary Brennan has confirmed the findings saying the council is working hard to make a dent in the gap and the process is a “balancing act”. The council will need to find the money to cover the cost of maintaining and replacing its assets over the next decade.

Mr Brennan said “exhaustive” studies had been done across the city’s assets and the council was “taking care of the backlog”.

This year the council increased rates one per cent to contribute to asset upgrades and renewal.

“We already budget to do a good amount of asset maintenance and then we’ve added another $360,000 to that budget to make sure that we’re ahead of the game,” Mr Brennan said.

“So we’re not just maintaining, we’re actually taking care of the backlog as well.”

The report shows the council’s asset sustainability ratio is down from 0.812 in 2015 to 0.524 in 2016.

Mr Brennan said the ratio should be “one”.

“We know exactly where we need to be and how far behind we are and that’s demonstrated by that ratio,” Mr Brennan said.

“That’s something we’re aware of and we need to be vigilant and keep making sure in subsequent budgets we provide adequate funding to maintain our assets that we’ve got.

“It’s a balancing act between providing more infrastructure as a growing city should have.

“It’s about balancing that, balancing your debt levels – which are under control – and also making sure that you are maintaining the assets we’ve already got.”

Mr Brennan said it would take about 10 to 15 years to bridge the gap.