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00:00:00 Speaker 4: This is Trent Graff in attendance. Trent, could you please give us a summary? Speaker 2: Sure. Just to clarify, councillors, are we suspending this then or is... Speaker 4: Not at this time. Speaker 2: Not at this time. Okay. The first agenda item is in relation to the budget consultation process for the 2022-2023 budget. This is the second year that we've embarked on the consultation process. Only one of a few councils in Queensland that are still embarking on an engagement process through the budget. At this point in time, there is no legislative requirement to follow a comprehensive engagement process, but we consider it imperative and a required element of a transparent budget process. It's an iterative process. We refine it each year, and this year was slightly different to the previous year for a couple of reasons. One was a greater reliance on the liveability survey that we had completed during the year in the community satisfaction survey, which collectively we had 2,400 responses on, which is significant.
00:01:00 It's significantly higher than the responses we're getting through the budget consultation feedback. The second change was to go out later in the budget process to put the draft budget out for consultation rather than to seek ideas early. The reason for that was it enabled us to seek feedback on the known proposed outcomes of the budget, and where necessary, refine and change those proposed outcomes and enable the community to understand those. And we'll review those again with next year's budget as we further fine-tune the process. We've used a number of channels for the engagement process. We've had face-to-face sessions, email, online survey, and a balance the budget tool on our Have Your Say website. We received 170 responses during that process, which is 20 up from last financial year. And more importantly, this year we ensured that we engaged with our business associations and those community groups to provide input and feedback given their strong member representation and how they represent broader communities. We've also provided a fair amount of feedback in relation to our community and the number of members we have.
00:02:00 The consultation identified a couple of clear high priorities for community feedback in relation to our draft budget. But also recognised that there are some very strong competing and divergent priorities in our community in relation to the environment, the economy, tourism, and social and community outcomes. So it was a really robust and rounded feedback there. Many of the survey responses also identified many of the survey responses also identified I'd like to start by the challenge that not only us as council are facing but the community and the broader state and national are facing in terms of cost increases and cost pressures. So in relation to the change we made three key changes coming out of the draft budget. The first one was proposing to defer the renewal fees for the short stay local law for the 2022-23 financial year until we get through the 12 month review process of the short stay local law to ensure that we are delivering outcomes that are efficient and effective.
00:03:00 The second key change was proposed increased investment in environmental services through securing a new bush care officer as well as additional funds for the environmental grants out of the surplus funds that we have in the environment levy. The third key change was in relation to additional project funding for council's economic development branch as well as project funding for Coorooz and Noosa. Now even through all those key changes through a refinement review of our cost base we've still managed to keep the proposed 2022-23 budget in surplus which means all our financial sustainability indicators are met as well as delivering some improved outcomes to the community. Beyond those key changes there are also a number of priorities identified in relation to investment in roads and bridges, natural areas, waste management, foreshores, beaches and canals, as well as sustainable transport and strategic planning which includes housing and climate change.
00:04:00 Now those other areas we had already invested significant increases in our budget for so at this point in time we haven't made any further proposed changes to the budget. And that concludes the key executive summary. Speaker 4: Thank you Trent. Is there any other questions for Trent? Councillor Lorentson: I'll start. Trent. A significant influx of feedback received was in relation to resort style facilities with on site managers who objected to the recent and proposed draft changes to short term living. They argue that we revised category 26 rating category and have one simple fee for resort operators to refocus investment for tourist accommodation back into purpose built resorts and away from residential areas. Can you give us just an overview about the discussions that we've had as a council during our workshops to address this issue?
00:05:00 Speaker 2: Sure. Through the Chair, yes we did discuss both with the combination of the short stay local law as well as the rating structure. We did have a broad discussion about the application of both and particularly with the general rate and with reference to those resorts or those strata facilities that have a form of on site management. Now in relation to the general rates at this point in time we had worked through that any changes to the general rate should form part of a broader review of our rating structure. Given the time it takes in independent assessment and review that we get through the rating process because we engage independent consultants to help us develop and structure those rating charges. We have deferred any further changes to the general rate at this point in time to a future financial year. It gives us a broader opportunity to understand what are our key priority sectors and what those priority sectors have on the use of our infrastructure and facilities and how that bundles through in terms of our general rating structure.
00:06:00 So that will be a discussion that we'll bring through forward in future financial years to review and assess as part of the budget process. Councillor Wegener: Thank you Chair. Speaker 1: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Oh I do have another question. Additional $125,000 has been allocated for Council's Economic Development Branch and Tourism Noosa projects. Can you give us again an outline or some details of those projects? I can do that if you'd like. Thank you Chair. Thank you. Speaker 3: June the Mayor in response to Council Lawrence and I'm very happy to be able to advise some of the details of Tourism Noosa. They're looking at $65,000 to start to reactivate some of their inbound international marketing. Looking at high value visitors coming to the Noosa region. Very much looking forward to that activation going ahead.
00:07:00 The rest of the funding that has been put forward is specific to reactivating our tourism industry and our sector. Being able to help with their resilience post COVID and ensuring that we're meeting the demand of the market right now. When it comes to having not just the staff but trained and skilled staff that can deliver a great tourism experience for visitors to our region. I'm very happy to have received that from Tourism Noosa late last week and we'll work further with them on that additional funding as we start to be able to unpack the budget over the next 12 months. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Mr CEO. Councillor Wilkie: Yep. Councillor Lee. Some of the strongest feedback seemed to be reflecting on the livability survey wanting more resources put into the environment. There were two initiatives that we supported. That was the extra money for the environment grants and also the bush care, increasing bush care program resourcing. Could you explain about the timing for both those increases in resourcing please?
00:08:00 Speaker 2: Through the Chair. Yes Councillor. So the additional environmental grants. Obviously last round through the June reporting round we had the environmental grants come through for assessment. And we have already identified and prioritised where that additional $95,000 for environmental grant funding will occur through the 2022-23 financial year. So that will start feeding through to the community groups over the coming months. In terms of additional resourcing for staff. In terms of the bush, bushland, community bushland care officer. That position is funded for six months. So what that does is it gives us time for our HR and our resourcing team to actually put the position description together and to go out to market to have someone on board running in the position from 1 January. Now it's also worth noting that in addition to that position the environment levy also includes resourcing for a couple of additional officers.
00:09:00 One is in relation to coastal management. And the other one is in relation to foreigner endangered species management as well. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll move the motion. Speaker 4: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So it. Mr. Secretary. I'll probably need one. Speaker 4: Thank you. It's Councillor Stockwell. Councillor Finzel. Councillor Stockwell. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: It was. As the Deputy Mayor said the response to the draft budget was very similar to the response of a much larger budget. It's a much larger cohort to the livability survey. And the way I look at it and it's an analogy I might use a few times is if Noosa Council and the Noosa community was a big cruise ship, roads, rates and rubbish are the engine room. You need them to keep the ship going. But it's the landscapes, the lifestyles and the livelihoods are the reason why the people are on board. It's getting to experience on your cruise an environment that's natural.
00:10:00 Getting to relax in your lifestyle and enjoy the pools, enjoy the water and in this case our rivers that we're investing into. So that's what the feedback's saying. The feedback was saying from the livability survey and the draft budget we want to invest more in the landscapes, the lifestyles and finally the livelihoods. And that's one that I think probably does need a little bit more in terms of economic development. What we gave, we gave Tourism Noosa a CPI increase. And while we're waiting the destination management plan to get to a stage where we can start renegotiating the relationship going forward in the longer term, that's a step towards recovery. And some of the things that the CEO didn't mention, some of the investments we asked, you know, what are you going to do for that extra money is to boost the tread lightly program, which is about getting people who want to experience the environment in the biosphere. So it's about how you can come and experience Noosa and have a smaller environmental footprint. It's about marketing the World Surfing Reserve. Now the skills program's really interesting because it's about some of the critical issues
00:11:00 we've got in terms of our locals and the jobs. So in a survey last year, 71% of tourism businesses were affected by staff shortages. And that's affecting both operators' mental health, business turnover, operating areas and service levels. So they're addressing that through their skills and workforce strategy. You've got things like the AgriHep hub that Biosphere's working on. And there's money in that extra money going towards looking at food tourism and how tourism Noosa can work with the Biosphere to promote even further Noosa's reputation as a paddock to plate destination. Further money to look at accessible tourism and, you know, there's 20% of adults who have some form of disability. And looking at how we can do that. We can actually make our destination more accessible to them. And finally, in terms of what was mentioned, in terms of the English market. And $113 million a year used to come pre-COVID into our budget driving those jobs from international
00:12:00 tourists. And UK was the biggest source of that international tourism. So it is a little bit of COVID recovery. But it's important to recognise that what we've done is take our environment. Spending to the extent we could while maintaining both environment levy at the rate which we had pre-COVID. We did have to increase the environment levy back to the pre-COVID levels to give the amount of funding that we have been able to respond to. But also, we've kept it to the level that could keep the overall rate rise to CPI as well. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr Stockwell. Would anyone else like to speak? Councillor Wilkie: Thank you, Madam Mayor. The feedback was very useful. It did affirm that we did have the spending levels right for a range of areas, including roads and bridges, infrastructure, council facilities. The reason why we did put the Bushcare program funding in there is because there was pent
00:13:00 up demand in the community for support for at least four or five groups that are wanting to get underway. But can't do so because we don't have the resources. We don't have the resources in council to allow them to get active and putting back into their community. So it was very important that that was done. And as Councillor Stockwell said, it did reinforce feedback from the liveability survey about the importance of the environment and the natural assets to our community. I thank everyone who took part in using the Balance the Budget tool or taking the time to put an email submission in because it did help guide us. It did affirm that we're in the right place. We've got the balance right and allowed us to make some fine tuning towards the end of the process. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councillor Wilkie. Anyone else like to talk to us? I just want to thank the community. I want to thank Trent very much. And this is the second year we've put out to our community.
00:14:00 And I want to thank everyone who did respond. They talked, you talked, and we actioned and listened. And that will become very apparent in our budget speeches. But it was very worthwhile for us to hear what mattered to you the most. We did take into account the liveability survey, but also the feedback from so many of our organisations across the board. It was really important for us. And it did change our decision making process in regard to a number of facets. So thank you to the community. Brian, would you like to close? No need to close. Put it to a vote. All in favour? And that is unanimous. Thank you. Item 2. And we welcome Councillor Jurisevic in line. Item 2, Operational Plan 2022-23. Mr CEO, would you give us a summary, please? Madam Mayor, thank you. Speaker 3: It is with pleasure that I have the opportunity to present the Operational Plan on behalf of our Director of Executive Services.
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00:15:00 Councillors, as you'll be aware, the Operational Plan is very much our performance guide, our performance matrix that we have. Sitting against this year's proposed budget that you have for consideration before you. It aligns to our current corporate plan. We know that this proposed budget has funding for a new corporate plan that we'll be taking forward within this financial year. This aligns to all of the projects that we have within this year's budget, big and small. We've ensured that every project is noted within the Operational Plan. And we'll be reporting to you on a quarterly basis, the administration's performance matrix, the performance against the Operational Plan, ensuring that we are delivering on the compact that we have with our community to deliver services, to ensure infrastructure is upgraded, and give Noosa the very best start that we possibly can as far as our economy is concerned, and the next financial year that we have moving ahead. As you'll see, Item 3 within the report there provides more in-depth detail on the type
00:16:00 of reporting that we will not just deliver as Council officers, but that we will also deliver as a matter of course, but also what's required for us under the Local Government Act and regulations as well too. Our KPIs will be developed over time. They'll be a bit more sharper than what we have in relation to the current goals that we're delivering. But we have the resources that you'll see in Item 7 of this agenda to be able to deliver against the Operational Plan that will ensure that this budget is one that, with its size and scope, can be delivered within the Noosa community. Council, I'd welcome any questions that you have in relation to this report or the Attached Operational Plan. Thank you. Thank you, CEO. Speaker 4: Anyone have any questions for our CEO? Would anyone like to move the recommendation on page 19? Councillor Wilkie: Have you moved it, Matt? Speaker 4: Thank you, Council. Would you second it, or would you like to speak to this? Councillor Wilkie: Oh look, I think the CEO's covered it quite very, very well.
00:17:00 It's required under the Local Government Act that we have an Operational Plan. For those who may be listening at home, it reflects the Corporate Plan. There's five themes broken up into the Noosa environment, the 20-year goal that our environment is protected and enhanced and valued by the community. There's a range of projects and actions that flow under that. Theme 2, the Noosa community, 20-year goal, our community is connected, safe and happy and able to meet their potential. Theme 3, the Noosa economy, the 20-year goal is our economy is diverse and resilient. There's always ongoing work happening there to ensure we diversify our economy away from the mainstays of tourism and construction, and that's been happening since early 2000s, since we've been tracking via census data to provide good evidence of that. Theme 4, long-term planning for Noosa Shire, the 20-year goal is the Noosa Shire is well managed and sustainable, and the planning scheme lies very much at the heart of that. Theme 5, excellence as a Council, 20-year goal, the Noosa Shire community is proud of
00:18:00 its Council, and our customer service staff are really at the coalface there, and we always receive very positive feedback about the performance of our frontline staff, and they deserve full credit for the praise Council gets in that area. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor. Speaker 4: Anyone else like to speak to the operation plan? Councillor, would you like to close? No, thank you. Alright. We'll put it to a vote. All in favour? That is unanimous. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Item 3, adoption of 2022-2023 budget policies, page 22 of our agenda. Trent, can you give us a summary of this report, please? Through the Chair. Speaker 2: The Local Government Act requires us to adopt a number of financial-related policies that form the practices and the framework for our budget and also our financial management practices during the financial year. They're primarily related to robust liquidity management, they're in relation to how we
00:19:00 invest our cash or our surplus funds, our debt policy in terms of our practices for undertaking loan borrowings, how we invest our cash or our surplus funds, our debt policy in terms of how we manage what we call restricted cash, which is cash received that's held for a specific purpose, such as loans or grants or levies. In addition to that, we also adopt a policy annually on our general rate donations, which is about the criteria and eligibility for community or not-for-profit groups or other agencies that are eligible for discounts or rebates on the general rates. And last but not least is what is our financial sustainability policy. Now, this is not a policy that is required under the Local Government Act. It's a policy that Noosa Council has developed in terms of setting the framework in our best practice principles for how we manage the financial sustainability of Council, not just in a one financial year term for a budget, but also over the long term for the 10-year plan of our long-term financial plan.
00:20:00 And that underpins a lot of our decision-making, both in this budget, but also in the long term. Thank you, Councillor. Speaker 4: Thank you. Any questions? Happy to answer. All right. Thank you, Councillor. I'll second it. Oh, sorry, Councillor. That's all right. Councillor Luke, would you speak to it? Councillor Wilkie: Yeah, thank you. As our Manager of – Director of Corporate Services, Trent, mentioned, these policies are the disciplines, the chosen and adopted disciplines under which the Council operates and manages its cash. For example, under the Financial Sustainability Policy, some of the key principles are that Council operates in an efficient manner, minimising general rate increases, we have to have full cost pricing for Council business activities, there's ongoing – we're committed to having ongoing operating surpluses, but no, we didn't have that in the last couple of years, there's a whole discipline around reporting on that and a rationale that if we do vary from the policy, we do so for very good.
00:21:00 We do so for very good reasons. And as has been mentioned already, we're coming out of the – we'll be back on surface this year. An appropriate collection and retention of cash funds, future infrastructure, financial obligations can be met, debt levels minimised, and we achieve all the minimum financial sustainability benchmarks set by legislation that we manage all our built and natural assets responsibly. If you're a real – If you're a real policy wonk, I recommend you use it as a bit of bedside – bedtime reading, but otherwise they're fundamental to the way we manage our residents and ratepayers' cash. Speaker 4: Thanks, Councillor. Would anyone else like to speak to item three? Councillor, would you like to close? No, thank you, Madam Mayor. We're good for vote. All in favour? That is unanimous. Thank you. That brings us to item number four on page 47.
00:22:00 We have 20, 22, 20, 23 fees and charges. We have our annual financial services here. Morning, Councillors. Speaker 1: As part of our annual budget process, we do a review of our fees and charges across the organisation. We do this and we look at the costs that are associated with delivering those services, so we endeavour to cover all of the costs that are associated in that fee. In terms of our commercial businesses, we also take into account the national competition policies. We'll see so that we're on market when we're setting our waste fees and also our holiday parks fees, because they're our commercial business units. Fees and charges for Council is estimated to be about $21 million this year, so it is a significant part of our budget, so we do take it quite seriously and we do a lot of modelling and work around it. The report that's attached to it outlines all of the different fees and charges, and we also included that as part of our consultation this year as well. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thanks. Any questions for Pauline?
00:23:00 I'll move it. I'll move the recommendation on page 47. Happy to second that. Thank you, Councillor Lorentson. Thank you, Pauline. Fees and charges are a booklet in themselves. There's a lot there. We try and keep our fees and charges to the levels that, the lowest levels we can, bearing in mind that we do have costs associated with that. And, again, if the community would like to read that, they're more than welcome. It's all there. It's all open. We've used it. You've given us, over the last couple of months, you've given us great insight into that. We've talked about them and debated them, and we appreciate all the hard work. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else want to speak to this? Councillor Lorentson: No? Okay. Speaker 4: We'll put it... All in favour? That is unanimous. Thank you. Now that brings us to item 5, which is the adoption of the 2022 budget, 2023 budget. I'd like to move that the operation of the standing orders or any relevant provision therefore be suspended to allow council to receive budget speeches from all of the councillors.
00:24:00 I'll second that. Thank you councillor. All in favour? We will now suspend standing orders. Thank you, I'll be back. Good morning. My fellow councillors, CEO, staff, ladies and gentlemen. It is with pleasure that we present this council's third budget and mine as Mayor of Noosa Shire. This budget we voted on today is very much a collaborative one arising from the hard work and wisdom of many. It's a budget that has undergone robust debate, scrutiny, feedback from our community, and is quite simply a reflection of our collective values. I'd like to acknowledge all my fellow councillors who have worked tirelessly over the past few months. Last year, because of the challenges of COVID, I stood in this room alone as councillors zoomed in.
00:25:00 So it's very pleasing that this year, most of us, apart from you Joe, could be around this table together, which has been the centre. of so many of our budget discussions. Challenges. The Noosa Shire Council budget 2022-23, just like our previous two budgets, has not been without its challenges. The impacts of COVID still felt, and with them are the additional trials of rising living costs, slower supply of goods, less stock available, inflation at its highest level in over 20 years, re-evaluation of land by the state government, which has seen average land values drop. This year, we have weathered much. But like our Shire, like our community, this budget is one of resilience and recovery. And above all, it's about investment.
00:26:00 Investment into our community, our environment, our economy, our businesses, and our capital works. Foundations. This budget has a renewed focus on sustainable development. And significant foundations. Rebuilding a strong foundation for the future. Helping boost the economy, while continuing to support our community through its post-pandemic recovery. Based on our liveability survey, this budget firmly puts our community and our environment first. Grassroots spending, where our community needs it most. Consultation and interventions. Prior to today, just as we did last year, we took our draft budget to our community. Where you spoke and we listened. Based on what we heard and what we heard. Based on feedback through a number of communication channels, we made changes. We didn't just talk the talk. We walked the walk when it came to community feedback. The changes we made included deferral of short-stay local wall renewal fees. Increased investment in environmental services.
00:27:00 New bush care officer. An additional allocation of environmental grant money from our environmental levy. And additional project funding for both Council's Economic Development Branch and Tourism Noosa. Councillors are united. We are unanimous in ensuring that our community's voices were indeed not just heard, but their feedback considered and implemented. Budget figures. Today's record $160 million budget incorporates an operating expenditure budget of $118 million. A capital expenditure budget of $42 million, which includes loan repayments of $1 million. Importantly, it complies with our Financial Sustainability Policy. It is a record investment by Council and Council. It is an investment in services and infrastructure for the community. While there are significant investments, there is a necessary rate rise. Like our fellow Councils across Queensland, we are not immune to the rising costs and rising challenges of our current environment. The minimum general rate will increase by 5 per cent.
00:28:00 This is lower than the overall rate increase for South East Queensland when it comes to inflation. Once waste charges and levies are included, the total rate bill for the community will increase to 5.1 per cent, or about $1.53 per week. As a Council, we worked as hard as we could to deliver everything that this record budget offers, while ensuring our rate rise did not go above national CPI. Strategic support. Last year, we instigated waiving the three-year waiting period for new pension and concession applications. This year's budget sees a continuation of this great initiative. With a 50 per cent rate deferment for eligible pensioners with financial hardship. Our role, our vision, is to help where we can, and we continue to help our elderly, something we are all very proud of. Our levies are back to pre-COVID levels. This means that a rates notice increase exists for these levies, but it means more spending
00:29:00 and more investment in regard to our environment and our heritage. Transport remains the same, but at a pre-COVID level, and we'll continue to provide the As well, other sustainable transport living initiatives include an e-mobility trial, transit hub investigations and parking technology trials. As well as this, the budget sets aside $520,000 for traffic management initiatives to help bust congestion. Capital. We are not far off last year's record capital infrastructure budget. This year's budget includes an ambitious $42 million in capital works, with $17.8 million being set aside for roads and transport, including $5.3 million for the annual road reseal program. From feedback received, increased investment in roads emerged as a key priority for our community, and so we're pleased to answer the call for more funding in this budget.
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00:30:00 Of these amounts being spent, $2.2 million of the reseal budget will be directed to hinterland roads. In addition to the $450,000, which we will spend to improve our gravel roads. We have also budgeted $1.6 million for hinterland bridge renewals, added to $1.3 million to upgrade Federal's Middle Creek Road, and $2 million in this budget for the Beckmans Road upgrade. Other key capital work projects include Stormwater Capital Works $640,000, Noosa Parade completion at $4.6 million, $1.2 million for the Noosa District Sports Complex, and $1.2 million for the Noosa District Sports Complex. $400,000 renewing Peregian Skate Park, $100,000 to investigate a new jetty at the woods, $250,000 for investigating transit hub options at Noosa Civic and the hinterland. An investment of $1.1 million into the upgrade of Noosa Hinterland Trail 5, plus the $250,000 to upgrade Noosa Trails in areas of high ecological value for our residents and our tourists.
00:31:00 $1.5 million to finalise FireTech Living Laboratory, Noosaville foreshore master plan, a plan which will be a game changer for this community, for our access to our river, our foreshore, better use of our outdoor spaces, which rated so highly for people in our livability survey. We turn our minds to other big-ticket items in this year's budget. This budget sees an investment of just over $4.3 million to complete the expansion of the Eumundi Noosa-Noosa Road landfill cells, as well as an additional $1 million investment in operational waste management initiatives to increase diversion and recovery of waste from landfill, including polystyrene processing, textiles drive, and investigation into landfill-to-gas electricity, anaerobic digestion, and organic options. All great ideas and all new ideas. This budget is necessary to help in our reduction of carbon emissions. Commitment and commencement of our new waste resource recovery strategy will do just that.
00:32:00 With the majority of Council's carbon emissions resulting from our landfill, we can, with the right strategy in place, the right initiatives undertaken, turn this essential service into an opportunity to be innovative, forward-thinking, and proactive. This budget provides funding for just that. Livability and the environment. Our livability survey and our budget feedback highlighted the importance of our environment. And in line with this survey, this budget adopts a $400,000 increased investment into environmental services and environmental levy programs, including additional environmental grants, staff resources, and funding for bush care, coastal hazards, and foreshore management, as well as a biosecurity survey. This provides a $6 million total Council investment on environmental services. Environmental levy, protecting our natural areas, zero emissions, climate change, and other capital programs pertaining to the environment. Our community programs are paramount and feature prominently in this year's budget.
00:33:00 Around $16.6 million of our budget is being spent to operate community facilities and to provide community development services. Of this, $150,000 is allocated to undertake a future needs assessment on the Noosa Leisure Centre. Nearly $1 million to continue the annual community grants program, and $88,000 to continue our incredibly popular Living Well Noosa program, a record spend in our community and our community facilities. Business support. Our business community, largely small businesses, are very much the lifeblood of this Shire, and we have over 7,000 of them. They continue to be supported. Our 2022-23 budget centres on boosting the local economy, with an additional $125,000 being directed at economic development. $455,000 for the continued operation of our very successful Peregian Digital Hub.
00:34:00 Specifically turning to tourism, one of our biggest economic drivers. We are supporting it via funding of $2.646 million for ongoing tourism of promotion in the Shire. An additional $125,000 above required investment, which is being used, as we've heard, for projects to assist with staff and skill shortages in tourism and hospitality, and inbound international marketing campaigns, and no doubt a whole host of other areas which would be of benefit to the Shire. We are allocating $1.1 million to continue the implementation of the local economic plan, including the development of the destination mark management plan. Similarly, the investment of $250,000 to upgrade Noosa Trails is important work which focuses on our environment, our recreation, our hinterland region, our tourism and our economy. It brings added tourism infrastructure and an economic injection directly into our hinterland region.
00:35:00 Special interest. We all have a few favoured projects, or things we are most proud of. For me, mine turns to the following. Fire management and safety. With a commitment to increase fire mitigation strategies and mechanisms coming into Council, and unanimously supported, the last two budgets have seen us deliver much in this space. This year's budget builds up our armour with the continued focus of being leaders of excellence in fire management and resilience, through funding commitments of $1.5 million to finalise our world class and leading fire tech living laboratory at our Peregian Beach Digital Hub. In addition, continuation for the second year of our bushfire levy, focusing ongoing work in trail maintenance. It's making our Shire more disaster resilient. As well, continuation of our internal fire management officer, again assisting with us being leaders in the field of fire management, mitigation and resilience. Capital spending on sports and recreation. The $1.2 million committed in capital works at Noosa District Sports Complex to commence internal roads.
00:36:00 Pathways and stage one of new sports facility, including replacement of the old Navy Cadet building, is something which I think we can all be particularly proud. These works will lay the foundation for what will be a precinct, which will be home to nine clubs, thousands of members, and in a radius of a kilometre or two to about 10,000 residents. It will be a legacy project, and one which this Council can be so very proud of. River support. Investigation into the upgrade or replacement of the jetty at Noosa Woods. Is something I'm looking forward to. Its potential lies in increasing transport solutions via river travel. It could decrease cars and congestion entering into Hastings Street. Assist in the movement of people among one of our most busiest areas. Decrease our emissions through less cars and buses on the road. And support our small businesses and economy through the sustainable movement of people. I look forward to working through the idea further with all councillors and our community.
00:37:00 Economic development. This Council has a strong economic focus and has pledged $125,000 more to our economic development team. To work with our business groups and our Chamber of Commerce to provide real, tangible and long-term solutions to our business community. One strategy being the instigation of the Adopt a Worker campaign. Similarly, the injection of an additional $125,000 into our tourism sector demonstrates our ongoing commitment to this area and our businesses, many of whom tourism is their lifeblood. Last year we introduced an overarching transitory accommodation rate. It is heartening that this year's budget, with support from all councillors, we have deferred the introduction of annual fees for short-stay property owners until a review of our short-stay local law. That means there will be no renewal fees payable until the 2023-24 financial year. This is again testament to our commitment to listen to the feedback from our community and from that take action.
00:38:00 Over the past two years I have used the mantra, save where we can to spend where we must. It's an idea I still espouse. This year, like the last two, we have put a focus on delivering tangible outcomes for our community. Providing grass-root style projects that will make a difference to the lives of our residents. Considering the challenges we have faced. I am incredibly proud to be delivering, alongside my other councillors, a budget of this calibre, which is another investment in enhancing our lifestyle and providing a bright future. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Mayor and my fellow councillors for their deliberations and sensible approach to formulating this budget. I believe it's a good one. It's a great one. And we have all worked hard to achieve it together. I'd also like to thank the council management team for their detailed work. In preparing the difficult budget.
00:39:00 Special thanks go to our CEO Scott Waters and our hard-working finance team led by Trent Groff and Pauline Coles. And also our executive team who worked so incredibly hard on this budget. A great team effort by so many of our wonderful staff. They have carefully analysed every detail and our finance staff have provided sage advice to all of us. The collective efforts of so many to get us here today has not gone unnoticed. It is appreciated and it is acknowledged. As councillors, we are all very grateful. In registering appreciation, it should be noted that we continue to remain in surplus. We have a modest operating surplus of $147,000. This is a remarkable result in what has continued to be a challenging financial context. A quote overused in the past, one that is always current, is drawn from a great humanitarian and former president who reminds us, our budget is more than just a series of numbers on a page.
00:40:00 It is an embodiment of our values, Barack Obama. To our community, it is you who we value and it is with you in mind that this budget was crafted. It's all about recovery, resilience and investment into our Shire, our environment, our economy, our tourism, our natural assets and most significantly you, our people. On behalf of your council team, I commend it for adoption. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you Madam Mayor, that was the most comprehensive budget speech in a long time. Very comprehensive and for those people who may be watching today, the sense of calm and serenity around this table actually belies the process that we went through in many sessions. To get to this point, there was a lot of robust debate, very good information, comprehensive, extensive information provided for us.
00:41:00 The staff went, councillors asked for more information, they came back, we were able to debate things further for us to arrive at this position today. And it's, I also would like to thank the financial staff, the CEO, the executive team, fellow councillors for the hard work that everyone put into this budget. Blood, sweat and tears went into this. As the Mayor said, there were a lot of challenges, which she quite rightly articulated. There were many natural disasters, supply chain blowouts, cost of living hikes, property valuation increases up to 100%, 300% in some instances. And we've kept it at 5.1 for the majority of ratepayers and come back to surplus and return the levies back to pre-COVID levels. I'd like to, the only other point I'd like to make is, there are some great projects that are going to be delivered this financial year. Just as some great projects came to fruition this financial year, like the Hinterland Adventure Playground, which was a long time in planning.
00:42:00 This year, we're going to see, sorry, next financial year, we'll see the work continue on the planning for Andoosa Regional Gallery. Hopefully that will also be a signature project that everyone can really be proud of, just as the Hinterland Playground is. There's going to be more work put in, design work going to be done on a pedestrian link between Noosa Junction over to Noosa Heads. Similar to the work that was done to bring to fruition the boardwalk, which everyone loves, from Main Beach round to the National Park. There's also the 13km section between Cooran and Pomona. Trail 5 will be upgraded and hope to be used as a template for the upgrade of the rest. The eventual upgrade of the rest of the Hinterland Trail Network, which is 103km worth of work out there. And there are other projects. And also, of course, the Noosa Parade upgrade will come to fruition as well.
00:43:00 There will be better landscaping, better pedestrian access, and it will be more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. And hopefully that will also be a project that the community and the Council will be proud of. But again, I was proud to be part of this process. It was very hard work. But as the Mayor has illustrated, there's a lot in this budget. And I commend it to you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councillor Joe. Councillor Jurisevic: As I am you, and I apologise I can't appear in person today, but I'm feeling 100%. There's an element of the budget that I'd like to ask a question of the CEO and all the acting staff. Corporate Services Manager. And that's the past demand in there from the flood recovery that we're undergoing. Those people have appeared at budget discussions and are wondering why there's no mention of elements of flood recovery within this budget.
00:44:00 Can I ask the CEO or acting Director of Corporate Services to explain why those elements aren't in the budget and why they aren't here? Speaker 2: Through the Chair. Council, you are correct. Yes, the budget presented before you today does not include the capital works which are being assessed as part of the disaster recovery process. We're currently working on the estimate and assessment of what those works and intervention works will look like. All those works at this point, as we are aware, are fully funded through QRA, which is the Queensland Reconstruction Authority. Once we finalise those submissions, which are currently in process with the QRA. We'll bring those through at a budget review so you see the full cost of those recovery capital works as well as the funding that fully offsets those to ensure that for the majority of those major works there is no impasse to our long-term cash balance as well as the rating impact as a result.
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00:45:00 Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you, Fred. I'll speak to the document if I may. I concur with the comprehensive list of funds. There's a number of projects that the Mayor alluded to that were being undertaken. Councillor Jurisevic: There's one she missed and that's the Federal Middle Creek Road reconstruction. It's been a long time coming. It's been a safety hazard for a number of years and I'm glad to see it's finally reaching fruition to be undertaken in this next financial year. Councillor Jurisevic: Some of the other projects that I'm proud to see coming to fruition are also the reconstruction of the Naval Cadets Building that the Mayor did mention. It's well over two years old. Councillor Jurisevic: It's a 1970s building that's finally going to be brought into the 21st century. A number of other projects there that we're very proud of and, of course, the operational activities of this Council going forward, being able to maintain them and keep the budget at a reasonable charge with only a $68 increase on last year's minimum rate.
00:46:00 So to cover all the things that both the Council and the Council members have said, I think Councillor Jurisevic: the previous speakers have said, it has been a long going, ongoing, collaborative process by all Councillors and the community that did engage. I appreciate and want to thank all those people that contributed their time and efforts and their feedback. It was valued and it was taken notice of and I hope going forward that we'll deliver all of the above in a, once again, another record capital works program. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you. Question no. Question no. Just to build on some of the question asked by Councillor Jurisevic. In a sense, this Council is also delivering a parallel set of capital works along the lines
00:47:00 of disaster recovery. Could you explain the estimated extent of those works in dollar terms and also how that's going to be delivered, please, and by whom? Speaker 2: Through the Chair. In terms of the extent and the scale of the capital works, we're still assessing the final cost. What we may find once we get to the bottom of that assessment is that the size and scale of both the immediate recovery and what we call the category D, the actual major upgrade of resilience works, as well as any supporting resilience work, may, by the end of the exercise, equal our current capital works program over the next two years. Now, it's not a piece of work we need to do over the next three to six months, but some of those follow on resilience works may take 12 to 18 months to complete. So it is like running an entire capital works program in parallel to our existing significant capital works program. And that requires a bit of work around ensuring that we are appropriately geared and resourced
00:48:00 to do that. We are very fortunate that we've engaged some specialist project management and disaster recovery consultants that are helping with the project management, cost assessment, geotechnical work and delivery of those capital works, as well as supported by a specialist separate project officer who is coordinating those capital works. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Just briefly, this budget maintains our standard of living. And I'm very happy for that. And I'm especially happy that we're investing in our waste strategy. It's a bit overdue and very important. And I believe every dollar was wasted. And we spend on that. We'll save a few dollars in the short term, $10 by 2030, and $50 by 2050. So that's very, very happy that we're going down that route, especially. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you.
00:49:00 Councillor Lorentson: I'll keep my speech brief as well. Sorry. I believe that we have listened to the community to develop a budget that is affordable. That is responsible and fair. A budget that aligns with our community expectations and values. And a budget that is aligned with Council's 20 year vision for the Noosa Shire. We've budgeted for capital, essential capital works, infrastructure and services that support our community and create an environment to grow our economy, both in the hinterland and in coastal precincts. Despite the uncertain financial outlook, despite COVID, and despite disruptions from floods and other natural disasters, plus rising cost pressures, we've done our best to minimise our rate increase and spend your money on matters that you told us are most important to you. Roads, rubbish, environment, community, and our economy.
00:50:00 In particular, our environment, which is reflected in our spending and prioritisation of environmental and sustainability initiatives. This community places high value on the natural environment and living. Sustainably. And so does Noosa Council. Noosa has always chosen a different path to other councils, and we must continue to do so. That's what sets us apart. I hope this budget meets your expectations, especially in preparing us for the immediate and future challenges that lie in front of us. Thank you to the community for giving us your trust to lead you during these challenging times. And finally, I'd like to acknowledge and thank our engine room. Thank you. And to our quiet overachievers, Trent, Pauline and staff, our new CEO Scott Waters and the executive team who are financially committed to keeping our future sound. And finally but not least, to our Mayor, our Deputy Mayor and my fellow councillors, who
00:51:00 are all passionately committed to making Noosa better. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Speaker 4: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: A budget's a plan for a year. No, it's not. A budget is a step towards the future we're aiming for. So each budget, when we review it, we have to have a look and say, are we taking a step towards that future? Have we taken a big enough step to get to zero emissions by 2026? Have we taken a big enough step to get the future the whole region wants for the Olympics in 2032? I think we have taken some great steps in this budget.
00:52:00 In terms of the place we live, I've just come back recently from a conference, it was the National Planning Conference, it was about planning in a crisis. And it was about the crisis of a climate emergency. It's about the housing crisis. It's about the crisis in terms of transport. And this budget actually brings some of that thinking into how do you respond to create the future we want? Because it's, on a lot of those issues, we can't just try and transition slowly to a new future. We have to take big steps. So it's the first time that we've actually got a project in there to have a look at a specific lot of council-owned land for social housing. That's a great step. It's a great step. It's a great initiative for all the people in housing stress. But we've also taken steps in terms of the transformation needed in mobility. We know that transport emissions are one
00:53:00 of the generators of carbon. But we also know that our community doesn't like congestion. Our visitors don't like congestion. In fact, we've got a lot of people who don't like congestion. I decided on my own to go and do another survey about what is concerning people and 50% of responses suggested traffic congestion and parking problems in tourist springs would have a major impact on their desired lifestyle and a further 18% suggested that was enough to make them think about moving. So have we done enough to try and address that? So one of the suggestions that received strong support was about paid car parking in tourist areas, discounted for residents with revenue, directed or approved active and public transport. And so yes, we actually have got a budget in there. We've got the first step to looking at what is the appropriate technology.
00:54:00 Is it digital on your phone paid car parking? Or is it vehicle recognition that just captures who's coming into these congested areas and looks at an internal source of revenue? Because if we are going to transform our community to the best of our ability, then we've got the sort of community we'd like in 2032, then we have to look at new sources of revenue. We can't just do it based on rates. Have we looked at pathways and parkways? Of that $42 million, 2.4 is actually in paths and parkways. 520 Ks is looking at transport hubs and improving our bus stops. We're looking at transport and infrastructure, 1.1 million. And part of that, there's a GD upgrade investigation. This was number four, I think, on our transport strategy is, can we use the river for public transport? So that's important because we have to find the alternative solutions.
00:55:00 And I think that's a good one. We've only got 400 K there in the ZIN. And that's consistent. And that's about zero emissions of this organisation. But Council Wagner mentioned the waste strategy. That's where the huge gains will come. But we've also, importantly, in that waste strategy, invested the most we ever have in behaviour change, in education, having specific people there who will work with the community because our waste emissions are their practices. It's how much waste every household continues to put in the red bin rather than the green bin or the yellow top bin that drives those emissions. So that's important. It's important that we're getting a better handle on our waste budget. Being able to do that. Being really professional, our new managers brought international thinking to how we address this problem. That's important. I'm going to go to a specific. Councillor Wegener: One of the other issues we've got in this community that the budget addresses is this
00:56:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: debate in the community about how many tourists, how many locals. Is Council focused too much on providing and generating tourist revenue versus the lot lifestyle of the community? To give you a really practical example, back last term, 2018, we started to have this conversation with Tourism Noosa and our events policy and we said, we want to shift where we get our tourist return to focus more on the hinterland. So since 2019-20, we're only 24% of our visitors visit the hinterland, and 21-22, 40% visited the hinterland. We're previously in 2019, we had a few hundred people doing events on the trail going out to the hinterland. Last year, we had about 2500 participants, which generated about 1.75 million.
00:57:00 So it's not about being anti-tourism, it's about managing our destination so that people enjoy the assets that people come to. And that's really important. So in this budget, one of my pet projects I'm happy is, and everyone agreed, is we're doing more work, continuing the great work we're doing on Trail 5 into Trail 4 and 7 to demonstrate best practice in terms of environmental management, sediment erosion control along the trail between Pomona and Lake Macdonald. And that's about locals. Trailblazers, a great community group, which we gave a grant to under this community grant that will come out of this budget, have counted. And in 2021, 141,000 trips were logged on the Waroi Trails. That's a huge area. And this is part of the COVID response. People are getting out into nature. When we look at how many people who visit us for national parks.
00:58:00 It's 62% of our visitors actually go to the national parks. That's compared to our nearest neighbours, Sunshine Coast, where it's only 30%. And we look at Google searching on the Noosa Trail has gone up 68%. So we're seeing this big change in terms of how we manage this place. So it's enjoyable for lifestyle, but it also breeds a tourist economy. But importantly, we've also invested matching the increase in investment for our economic development is about empowering staff to employ our smart buyers here of what we do to diversify the economy to produce new jobs that are high value. And lastly, the thing that I suppose is another big issue for the community that they might be a bit unclear about, you know, why are we, why are we putting off the annual renew for short stay? It's a huge issue. It's not changing what we deliver.
00:59:00 We will be delivering extra staff into the compliance and assessment of the short day local law, an extra 0.6. So we'll have nearly five full time equivalents focused on bringing all our short stay accommodation that under the local law into compliance. And that's an important thing. What we did say was, it was too complex to try and separate resorts out from the broader. It's a very complex issue that only people who would have sat through the very tedious three or four hours or whatever we did, would have been able to do. It's a very complex issue that only people who would have sat through the very tedious three or four We are bringing in the full cost of application fees as of July 1 and we've had we estimate about 50% of the people apply this year which means they'll be income coming from 50% together with the rates that we collect from them will move towards full cost recovery so I think it's
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01:00:00 really important to to identify that this budget does take the steps towards the future but there are going to be some issues next year and the next few years that we need to stop taking steps and put in the elevator and for that elevator to get to the future we need to get in terms of zero emissions in terms of transport innovation we'll need new sources of revenue and that'll be the challenge for the coming year. Councillor Finzel: I'll keep it brief and I'd like to just do a summary because I think this budget is a call to action and a call to respond to our community and everything they've said. Firstly though I would like to acknowledge the wisdom inherent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the oldest surviving culture in the world and recognize their custodianship on the land on which we stand, live, work and play. I would like
01:01:00 to also acknowledge the hard work of the staff, Trent and his team, the executive staff, the CEO and my fellow councillors and hopefully I haven't missed anybody but I do appreciate the hard work and diligence that everyone has applied to delivering this budget. The Noosa Shire Council 22-23 budget is a call to action with a focus I believe on fairness with no one left behind. To build a future Noosa whose livability is desirable, vibrant and inclusive. From the Noosa Shire hinterland trails to coastline, equally protecting our people, our environment and our economy. As everyone has said today we have listened to our community. In summary we have endeavoured to capture and say through your say to the community on our online surveys and community consultation. We have tried to capture the aspirations of our community to work
01:02:00 collaboratively and side by side. In essence the budget encapsulates our desire to build a better future as we walk the road to recovery from COVID, bushfires and flooding events. Emerge as proactive in delivering climate change targets. Address the housing crisis. Consider working families and our senior citizens. Support our small business community and tourism sector. Reinvent our economy through diversity while promoting safe, friendly and inclusive neighbourhoods. Invest in education and training for lifelong learning. Engender trust in our community through welcome and open conversations with a responsive and transparent council. Improve connectivity through growing infrastructure build of trails and pathways throughout our Shire and seek to support a healthy
01:03:00 and active community. The budget also desires to strengthen communities with a focus of course on the arts, culture and heritage. To build inclusion and resilience. Protect our Shire's heritage and environment. Raise awareness to support reconciliation and diversity. Deliver key services to our community. Reinforcing Noosa's identity through planning and projects with a priority on preserving our natural environment. While of course empowering our young people towards a sustainable future, providing hope as we deliver the Noosa Shire climate adaptation strategy. I encourage everyone to engage and respond to the call of action to build the future that we want to see for our future generations. And in closing I would like to take a quote from
01:04:00 Dale Carnegie. Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Get out and get busy. Thank you. Speaker 4: I'll move that standing orders be resumed. Thank you. Seconded. Thank you Councillor Leakey. All in favour? That is unanimous. Thank you for your budget speeches. They were wonderful. And we are now back in . We have now at item five on page 49 of our agendas. Motion 1. I want to speak to that. I think we've all spoke. Would anyone like to speak to motion 1? We're on page 49. It's worth reading it out.
01:05:00 I'm happy to read it out. Motion 1. Assured to section 104 of the Local Government Act 2009 and section 170 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, the budget for the financial year for the 30 June 2023 incorporating statements of income and expenditure, financial position, cash flows, changes in equity, long-term financial forecast, revenue statement and revenue policy in 2022-23 capital program as contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 budget document. Provided as an attachment 1 to the special meeting report dated the 28th of June 2022 to be adopted. Anyone like to add to this? All in favour? Carried unanimously. Thank you. I'll move motion to name. Would everyone like me to call them out or taken as read on the agenda? Taken as read. Taken as read. Thank you, Ms Rees. Okay.
01:06:00 Councillor Wilkie's moved to motion 2. I'll second. Councillor Finzel. Councillor Wilkie, do I have to? Oh, no, I was just going to say a motion to section 94, blah, blah, blah. Hold on. Speaker 3: I'm on the line, Senator. Speaker 4: All right, I'll have you to read them out. All right, motion 2. Assured to section 94 of the Local Government Act 2009 and section 80 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council resolves the levy differential general rate for the 2022-23 financial year as set out in the revenue statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 budget document providing as attachment 1 to the special meeting report dated 28th of June 2022. We had Councillor Wilkie move that and seconded Councillor Finzel, Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Lorentson: No, it was Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson, thank you, pardon. Speaker 4: Sorry about that. Would you like to, Councillor Wilkie, do you want to speak to this? Yeah. All in favour? Yeah. Yes. Motion 3. In pursuit of section 81 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council resolves that the rating categories of rateable land in its local government area,
01:07:00 the description of each of the rating categories for the 2022-23 be as follows. And these are substantial and on pages 49 through to 52. I'll move to the next one. Thank you, Councillor Finlay. Lawrence Dunstan, seconded. William, I'll speak. No. All in favour? Thank you. Motion number 4. Assured to section 94 of the Local Government Act 2009. And section 94 of the Local Government Regulation 2012. Council resolves to levy the special charges for the 2022-23 financial year as set out in the revenue statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-2023 budget document provided as attachment 1 to the special meeting report dated 28th of June 2022. The special charges set out in the revenue statement are Noosa Waters Lock and Weir Maintenance Levy,
01:08:00 Noosa Waters Canal Maintenance Levy, Noosa Junction Levy, Hastings Street Precinct Levy, Noosa Main Beach Levy, Hastings Street Community Safety Program charge, Noosa North Shore Electricity charge. For that purpose, the rateable land to which the special charges apply and the overall plans for the services, facilities or activities to which the statement charges apply be the rateable land and overall plans specified in the revenue statement. Councilor Wiener, seconded by Councillor Wegener. Would you like to speak to the councillor? All in favour? Unanimous. Thank you, Councillor Jo. Hands up, Jo. Yes. Councillor Russo, your hand is up. Yes. Thank you. Motion 5, to add to section 94 of the Local Government Regulation 2012. Council resolves to adopt the overall plans, annual implementation plans and benefited area maps specified in the revenue statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 budget document
01:09:00 provided as attachment 1 to the special meeting report dated 28th of June 2022. For the special charges, it resolves to levy under resolution 4. I move. Councillor Wilkie, seconded by Councillor Finzel. I move. I'm not speaking. All in favour? Councillor Jo, hands up. Yes. Motion 6, that pursues section 94 of the Local Government Act 2009, section 99 of the Local Government Regulation 2012. Council resolves to lend the utility charges for the 2022-23 financial year listed out in the revenue statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 budget document provided as attachment 1 to the special meeting report dated 28th of June 2022. I move it. Councillor Arnston, thank you. Seconded. I'll second it. Councillor Arnston, do you want to speak to it? Councillor Lorentson: No. Speaker 4: All in favour? Unanimous. The Local Government Act 2009, Section 103, the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council results to levy the separate rates and charges for the 2022-23 financial year as set out in the Remedy Statement containing the Noosa Council 2022-23 Budget Document, Vitamins Attachment 1 Special Meeting Report dated 28th June 2022.
01:10:00 The separate rates and charges set out in the Remedy Statement are Environmental Levy, Sustainable Transport Levy, Heritage Levy, Bushfire Resilience and Response Levy. The Local Government Act 2008, the pursuant to Section 107 of the Local Government Regulation 2012 and Section 114, Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990, Council results to rates and utility charges and the Queensland Government's Emergency Management Levy for the year ending 30 June 2023 will be levied six-monthly and as set out in the Remedy Statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 Budget Document, Vitamins Attachment 1 Special Meeting Report dated 28th June 2022. Council Lawrence, thank you. Council Steele.
01:11:00 Seconded. Council Finzel. Council Lawrence, I'm going to talk to you. Councillor Lorentson: No. Thank you. Speaker 4: All in favour? Joe. Thank you. Motion 9, Pursuant to Section 122 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council results to grant concessions to rate payers as set out in the Remedy Statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 Budget Document and Council's General Rate Donations Policy. I'll move. Motion 9, Council witness. Motion 10, Pursuant to Section 118 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council results that all rates and charges must be paid within 30 days after the date of issue of the Rates Notice. Councillor Jo is moving. Seconded. Councillor Stockwell. Councillor Jo, would you like to speak to it? No. All in favour? Unanimous. Motion 11, Pursuant to Section 133 of the Local Government Regulation 2012, Council resolves that all overdue rates and charges bear interest as set out in the Revenue Statement contained in the Noosa Council 2022-23 Budget Document Provided as Attachment 1 to the Special Meeting Report dated 28th June 2022.
01:12:00 Council Wilkie. Okay, seconded. Any more? Councillor Lorentson and Jo, you're next. Sorry. Councillor Lorentson is seconded to that one. Oh, yeah. No, okay, all in favour? Jo, you're up for the next one. Motion 12, Pursuant to Section 257 of the Local Government Act 2009, Council delegates to the Chief Executive Officer at its powers under Section 81 Local Government Regulation 2012 to identify the differential rating category into which each parcel of rateable land in the Council's Local Government Area is included by using relevant information from the Council's land record and any other information which identifies the use of rateable land. Councillor Jo, you'd like to move that one? Yes. Seconded. Seconded that one. Councillor Jo, would you like to speak to that? All in favour? Unanimous. , and motion 13, that it be recorded that in each case where a proceeding motion refers to a matter set out in the letter of the new statement contained in the Noosa Shire, the Noosa Council 2022-23 budget document provided as attachment one to the Special Meeting Report dated 28th June 2022, that matter is incorporated by reference into and forms part of the terms and content of the motion and will be so incorporated and form part of the terms and content of Council's resolution to adopt the motion.
01:13:00 Councillor Wegener, Councillor Finzel, seconded. We'll just speak to Councillor Wegener. All in favour? That is unanimous. Okay, now we are up to item 6 on page 59 of the agenda. Statement of Estimated Financial Position for the 2021-2022 Financial Year. We have Acting Financial Services Manager Pauline here. Pauline, could you give us a summary please? Speaker 1: Morning, Councillors. As part of the Local Government Regulation, we are required to present Council with a statement of estimated financial position.
01:14:00 This reflects the Budget Review 2 that we performed in January 2022 and shows a small surplus, a small deficit, sorry, and it's just part of our budget prices. Speaker 4: Thank you. Would anyone have any questions for Pauline? Would anyone like to move a staff recommendation? Councillor Stockwell. Seconded. Councillor Wilkie. No, thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. All in favour? Unanimous. Thank you, Pauline. Thank you. And that brings us to the last item on the agenda, which is page 62, and that is Organisational Structure. And we have our CEO standing in for a Director of Executive Services to answer any questions you may have. Speaker 3: Madam Mayor, thank you very much. Councillors, the report that we have before you recommends that Council adopt the Noosa Organisational Structure as set out in Attachment 1. What is this report about for you? This is the team to deliver your budget.
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01:15:00 This is the team that will be side by side with you, ensuring that we deliver the very best services for our community that we can, and we keep our infrastructure to the standard that we can afford to at this particular point in time. We will note that there has been a small uplift in FTE, full-time equivalent roles, from 386.7 to the now recommended 394.9. Those FTE are within the areas of waste and environmental health, building and plumbing, development assessment, environmental services, and also community engagement. These are outward facing services to deliver better services to our community overall. We have also for the first time in this report identified the amount of temporary and casual employees that we have, noting that we have a record spend this year and our expenditure does ebb and flow over time. So we do have those details within the report for you. We think that's an important step for us as Council officers to have full transparency of the headcount that we have here at Noosa Shire Council.
01:16:00 I put the report to you for any questions that you may have. But it is the report of the team to deliver your budget for you. Thank you. I'll move to staff recommendation. Speaker 4: I think Councillor Weiner. I just want to again acknowledge we have hundreds of staff here at Noosa Council. They all do an incredibly important job. And this is right. We can sign up on the budget and adopt the budget, but these are the people who will implement it for us. So I'm going to thank them, acknowledge them for all their hard work across the Shire, our indoor staff, our outdoor staff, our customer delivery, our managers, our workers, our executive team, CEO. They do a tremendous job and I'm really proud of them. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll speak to this one as well. It is one of the important decisions to make because any growth in FTE is a long term impost on potentially on the rate pay.
01:17:00 I think it's really important to acknowledge that the vast majority of these positions are funded from other sources other than general rate revenue. So the waste officers, as we mentioned, are about preparing us for the future. We've got large capital works in the strategy and waste is a separate commercial entity that generates its own revenue. And hopefully if we get that right, it'll be a much more efficient resource recovery operation into the future. The new positions in building and plumbing and development assessment is a result of the significant volume of applications and the need to reduce the stress and increase and reduce the time it's taking us to make sure that we're providing a statutory assessment services that meet the guidelines with the Act. We've mentioned about the new environmental services roles that we're encouraging and importantly, one that hasn't got much airplay is the community engagement now.
01:18:00 Ever since I came here in 2016, the desire to have a specialist community engagement person on staff to drive has been something we've been talking about. This is where the rubber hits the road. It was in response to the community satisfaction survey, which indicated to us that we perhaps could do better. And so having that person with those specialist skills is important. The other thing, I suppose, is there's a large number of projects specific. Which may relate to the other large couple of works. But one I forgot to mention in the budget speech is we've got projects that are really popular with the community like the Aging Well Program that's been running this year. And we've committed another $80,000 to what is now going to expand that to a Living Well Program. And that requires a staff resource. So one of the reasons that you're seeing growth in FTE is councils actually delivering more to the community in a variety of different aspects.
01:19:00 Of the services they need, the engine room, but also in delivering the lifestyles and protecting the landscapes. And also in looking after the economy through their future livelihood. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councillor Stockwell. Councillor Wilkie: Just like as Councillor Stockwell said, the council is delivering more with these, is able to deliver more with these extra staff. But there are about 50 temporary positions that are there that gives the council the flexibility to keep the staff on while the work is there. But also shed them when the work is and the demand is no longer there. So it's not as if we're locked in to these higher staff numbers. They are in response to unprecedented demand in some areas that we're currently experiencing. And they have a temporary lifespan and opportunity to review their necessity at the end of the year.
01:20:00 So that's the project period. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, Councillor. Yeah, I just think that it's really good that we have the sufficient number of staff employed to, you know, do the tasks at hand. Because what we want to do is look after our most valued commodity. Well, I shouldn't call it commodity, but the people that work in this organisation. Because without them, we couldn't deliver what the communities want of us and what they've said they want. So I really support this and the appointment of the staff, even to full-time positions. Because that adds financial security to their own families and their own livelihood here in the Shire. So I think it's really important. And we want to be seen as an organisation where the culture really supports and encourages the health and wellbeing of our staff through having the right number of staff to deliver the project. So thank you. Speaker 4: Do you want to add to that, Jo? Councillor Lorentson: Yeah, I'd just like to add to that and just reiterate what's in the report.
01:21:00 There's also a risk with high numbers in temporary and casual positions. And I respect Council and in particular our new CEO in acknowledging that. That we have an obligation to manage ratepayers' money wisely, efficiently. And we've got to make sure that these increases are in fact sustainable and that we don't overspend. So thank you for that acknowledgement in the report. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councillor Jo, would you like to speak? No? Councillor Whelan? Councillor Wegener: Again, just briefly. I'm really happy with the going forward with the engagement officer in that we're looking a lot at the the new people that are moving to Noosa in droves and wanting them to engage with basically council or with the community groups, with the bushcare groups which we've funded through the environment levy
01:22:00 and given and made sure that they responded to community concerns for the bushcare groups and bringing the community on and inviting them and making it as easy as possible for them to become involved in the community groups and give their time to the community because that is such a huge asset for all of us. in counselling and staff and the staff. So I know that's a little bit off point when talking about the organisational structure and recognising the importance of the community groups. But with the engagement officer, I think that we're going in that facilitating that aspect of our own. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 4: I think it's all been said. We've got to invite all in favour. That is unanimous. Thank you. There are no other items on the agenda. So I want to thank everyone for attending today on this very momentous occasion. Congratulations everyone around this table, in this room, on all your hard work. It has been a tough six months, nine months, however long you guys have done for Google.