The Arncliffe Town Centre Upgrade is part of a $56 million capital works program approved by Bayside Council when it adopted its 2020/21 budget recently.
The capital works program includes the Gardiner Park Synthetic Playing Field at Banksia, along with new amenities buildings, and ongoing improvements to parks, roads, pavements, beaches and waterways.
The council's rates and annual charges for the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, includes the general rate increase of 2.6 per cent as determined by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
"The council has been able to retain a small surplus in the budget of $34,500 but only after having to make some sound financial decisions with the aim of maintaining the level of service that Council provides to the Community," the council's budget report stated..
"At the time the 2020/21 Draft Budget and City Projects Program (CPP) went on public exhibition, Council was forecasting to achieve an unrestricted cash surplus of $50,950 for the year ending 30 June 2021.
"Shortly after the Draft Budget and CPP went on public exhibition, the emergence and rapid evolution of the COVID-19 virus and related pandemic introduced significant uncertainties in the base assumptions of the initial budget projections."
In response to COVID-19, Bayside Council introduced a number of key relief measures in support of its community, while ramping up safety and well-being initiatives.
These included increased waste collections, work health and safety initiatives such as increased cleaning, as well as investment in IT infrastructure to facilitate remote working arrangements.
The major factors that have impacted the 2020/21 Budget due to COVID-19 include (but are not limited to):
COVID-19 related hardship relief packages for residents, ratepayers and local businesses;
Waiver of certain fees and charges including waiving of rental charges;
Increased on-going costs of hygiene, IT and community awareness;
Implementation of staff employment protection measures;
and Anticipation of a slow return of economic activity to normal levels.
Consequently, after the conclusion of the public exhibition period, a substantial amount of work had to be undertaken to incorporate the financial effects of COVID-19 and therefore realign the 2020/21 Budget to remediate the COVID deficit of approximately $2.6 million..
As part of the remediation strategy, the changes to the budget required expenditure reductions in areas such as utilities, street lighting, materials and contracts and other operating expenditure.
The net effect of these expenditure adjustments amounted to $640,000.
"In addition to this, further reductions have been incorporated for employee expenses in anticipation of the annual staff award increase being lower than originally expected as well as an extension of the current recruitment freeze to replace certain vacant positions," the council report stated.
"Staff overtime has been cut back to fund only the most essential services provided across the seven day spread of hours.
"This rigorous monitoring will continue post COVID. The net effect of these adjustments amounted to a budget reduction of around $800,000.
"As part of the council's City Projects Program review, it is proposed to fund approximately $877,333 by way of an internal loan against consolidated internal reserves to fund certain road and infrastructure renewal works on the Botany side of the Local Government Area (LGA) where no alternative source of funding is available.
"This adjustment was required to balance the budget and ensure important infrastructure renewal works are delivered throughout the entire LGA.
"The need for this type of funding strategy highlights the funding challenges Council is currently experiencing, with shortfalls in funding available to meet our infrastructure funding requirements.
This is especially noticeable on the Botany side of the LGA where no other source of funding is currently available for infrastructure renewal works due to the absence of an infrastructure levy for the "renewal of assets on the Botany side of the LGA."
This will be a factor for Council to consider over the next 12 months as part of the options for implementing rates harmonisation across the two former LGAs by 1 July 2021, the budget report concluded.
"The impact of COVID-19 cannot be underestimated and has made budgeting for the next 12 months challenging," Bayside Council mayor Joe Awada said.
"I am confident that Council has responded well to the challenges and has produced a robust plan, based on sound financial decisions, to maintain the level of service our community expects and deserves."
Bayside Council's proposed funding strategies are set out in the Delivery Program 2018-2021 and Operational Plan 2020/21 that was adopted at an Extraordinary Council meeting on Wednesday, June 24.
Full details of the delivery program for 2020-2021, including Council's ongoing objectives to maintain community assets can be found on the Bayside Council website.