Casey Council has recorded a $140 million surplus for the 2024/25 financial year, with a $57 million shortfall against its original forecast.
The shortfall was largely due to lower-than-anticipated asset transfers from new estates and subdivisions, largely driven by timing delays in the handover process, which has impacted the recognition of these assets within the current reporting period.
However, according to the Council, when excluding those non-cash items, early State and Federal grants, and project carryforwards, Casey’s underlying result stood at $9.6 million, well above the $0.5 million budgeted.
Officers said the stronger position was driven by savings in capital works delivery and additional grant funding secured during the year.
For the 2024/25 financial year, total operating income was about $630 million, and total operating expenses were about $489 million.
Rates and charges came in $1.2 million higher than forecast, boosted by more new households requiring waste services than originally anticipated, and an increase in additional bin requests.
Statutory fees and fines exceeded the budget by $1.9 million, primarily due to higher-than-anticipated activity in development services, which has resulted in increased revenue from application and engineering fees.
Council also noted that there had been a rise in Local Laws infringements related to parking.
“This increase is linked to a growing number of requests from residents and schools seeking Council support for parking compliance around key sites,” Council stated in the report.
Employee costs rose $16 million, partly due to project reclassifications from capital to operating expenses and increased demand for Maternal Child Health and Kinder programs.
Council delivered approximately $122 million in capital works, $5.9 million more than the previous financial year, and will carry forward about $43 million in unfinished projects and $6.2 million in operational initiatives into 2025/26.
The cash surplus was about $6 million compared to a budget of $0.5 million.
About $5.5 million will be transferred to the Strategic Assets Reserve to fund future infrastructure priorities.
During the October Council Meeting where the budget outcome was presented, several councillors praised the city’s financial management.
Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen, an accountant by profession, said the headline surplus often caused confusion among residents.
“I would also like to thank officers for their contributions, but also today, because I often do get asked by residents that we’ve got a $140 million surplus, and where’s all that money come from? But I think Miss Baker (Casey Council’s CFO) explained it quite well that it’s an accounting treatment,” he said.
“At the end of the day, the cash surplus is this $5.5 million, which we’re being asked as a group to put into a Strategic Assets Reserve, which is in a good place that will hold us in good stead for large projects into the future.
“As councils, we did ask lots of questions about this, and it’s common.”
