About the budget

Cardinia Shire Council’s Budget for 2024/25 aligns with Cardinia’s Council Plan 2021–25 and Community Vision to deliver on our community’s aspirations.

The budget has been developed with an awareness and appreciation of the current cost of living pressures being experienced by our community. For this reason, Council has not applied to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) for a variation to the 2.75% rate cap.

The theme for budget development this year has been “creating a financially sustainable legacy” with the priority on maintaining existing services and delivering projects already underway.

The draft 24/25 Council budget is in the document library on the right-hand side of the screen. The budget highlights, impacts and annual considerations are listed below.

Where council spends its funding

The information below shows how much is allocated to each services area for every $100 that Council spends.

  • Roads and Major Projects

    Roads, drains and footpaths: $19.89

    Bridges: $1.42

  • Parks and Recreation

    Parks and gardens: $15.95

    Swimming and Recreation: $6.97

  • Planning and Design

    Planning Services: $3.29

  • Environment and Heritage

    Garbage and Waste Management: $7.71

  • Governance

    Governance: $1.05

    Local Law Enforcement and Health Services: $2.69

    Property and Facility Management: $3.10

    Customer and Corporate Support: $3.38

    Community Engagement: $0.57

    Emergency and Environmental Management: $1.11

  • Community and Family Services

    Children's Services: $0.47

    Maternal and Child Health: $1.61

    Youth Services: $0.35

    Community Support: $5.66

  • Buildings and Facilities

    Library Services: $1.28

    Community infrastructure: $22.59

  • Business and Economic Development

    Economic and community development: $0.91

Council plans to commit

  • $238.3 million in capital infrastructure over the next four years, with an $82.3 million capital program (including $21.0 million carry-over from 2023/24) in the 2024/25 financial year.
  • Of the total capital works program for 2024/25, $64.7 million is dedicated for renewal and upgrade of our $2.5 billion worth of community assets.

Expenditure on Council assets is detailed in the Capital Works Program and for 2024/25 this amounts to $82.3 million ($40.9 million funded by rates, $21.3 million from grants and contributions and $20 million from borrowings), which includes $21.0 million worth of projects carried forward from 2023/24.

Highlights of the capital works program include:

  • Roads and Bridges ($29.9m) – continuing delivery of the “Better Local Roads - Connect Cardinia” and “Sealing of the Hills” projects, replacing bridges on Simpson Road and Tenby Road, and ongoing maintenance of roads and footpaths.
  • Drainage ($1.4m) – drainage improvements at Beaconsfield Station, Macclesfield Road, and Tynong Roads and rehabilitation works at Nobelius Heritage Park.
  • Buildings ($22m) – construction of the Thewlis Road Child and Family Centre and Pavilions at Upper Beaconsfield and Cora Lynn recreation reserves, as well as maintenance and refurbishment for Council-owned buildings.
  • Recreational, leisure and community facilities ($1.8m) – renovation of the Pakenham Pool, installing new cricket nets at Chandler Recreation Reserve, and upgrading lighting at the Nar Nar Goon Recreation Reserve.
  • Parks, open space, and streetscapes ($6.7m) – completing works at Officer District Park, constructing stage 1a of the Pakenham Revitalisation project and installing new playgrounds at Toomuc Recreation Reserve, WB Ronald Park, and Greenland Ct Reserve.

Key initiatives and projects included in the budget include:

  • $21.7 million in renewal of existing assets including roads, drains, paths, playgrounds and swimming pools.
  • Construct Stage 1a of Pakenham Revitalisation project.
  • $9.3 million to continue delivery of the ‘Sealing of the Hills’ project.
  • Commence construction of the Upper Beaconsfield Recreation Reserve Pavilion and deliver Cora Lynn Reserve Pavilion.
  • Completion of Officer District Park.
  • Coordinate health and wellbeing initiatives across the Shire in line with the priorities set in Cardinia Shire’s Liveability Plan 2017-29.
  • Funding the 2024 Council elections and development of the new Council Plan 2025-29.
  • Increase in operating funding for maintenance of trees and open drains.

As we finalise the draft 2024-25 annual budget share your comments using the post it notes below. We will consider these comments as we finalise the budget in June 2024.

Leave a comment!

Leave a comment!

Have a read of the Draft Council Budget for 2024-2025 in the Document Library on this page and leave a comment here with your thoughts and ideas! Comments will be published to this page and considered by Council for the final Budget (max 140 characters).

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Moderation Policy

29 April, 2024

Val says:

Please reroute lakeside bus 925 to include stops at Cardinia station return at the moment we have to travel to Pakenham station to catch tra

28 April, 2024

Anonymous says:

The proposed $240k cut to Access, Inclusion does not make sense economically or socially.. Please encourage access to businesses/community .

19 April, 2024

Bunyiprivertrail says:

I would like all citizens in Cardinia to be listened to if they come forward with ideas for liveability ideas in their respective areas.

Budget Impacts

External Influences

Council's budget is influenced by a number of external influences including:

Population growth averaging at 2.1% per annum will still place significant stress on council’s resources.

The Victorian State Government continues to apply a cap on rate increases. The cap for 2024/25 has been set at 2.75%, which is below the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 4.1% for December 2023. The overall financial impact of the lower rate environment continues to lead Council to review its services and capital works program and to source alternative funding streams.

This occurs where Council provides a service to the community on behalf of the State or Federal Government. Over time, the funds received through funding agreements do not increase in line with real cost increases, which adds pressure to meet service obligations within financial constraints. Council will continually review its service levels to ensure that we are meeting community needs within financially sustainable limits.

The timing and impact of these events are unknown and unfortunately the regularity is increasing as a result of climate change. Whilst Council undertakes significant prevention and recovery measures, these events have a significant impact on the community, businesses and the economy, as well as Council’s human and financial resources.

Councils across Australia raise approximately 3% of the total taxation collected by all levels of government in Australia. In addition, councils are entrusted with the maintenance of more than 30% of all public assets, including roads, bridges, parks, footpaths and public buildings. This means that a large proportion of Council’s income must be allocated to the maintenance and replacement of these valuable public assets to ensure the quality of public infrastructure is maintained at satisfactory levels.

At the time of writing, Council is negotiating its new enterprise agreement. Estimated impacts of the EA have been included in current and future budgets.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) regulation has a sustained impact on Council with regard to compliance with existing and past landfill sites. Waste disposal costs are also impacted by industry changes such as levies and negotiation of contracts. Additionally, the release of the Ministerial Guidelines regarding service rates and charges will have an impact on Council’s ability to recover garbage charges from rate payers. Council intends to be fully compliant with these guidelines from 1 July 2025.

Internal Influences

As well as the above external influences, there are a number of internal influences expected to impact the budget projections, including:

  • Continued demands on Council resources for the renewal of existing assets.
  • The value of developer contributed assets and completed capital works, together with an increase in the value of existing assets, is impacting depreciation and maintenance expenditure