Thursday 25 October, 2012
Tamworth Regional Council will write to the Independent Federal Member for New England, Tony Windsor, to express disappointment at the reduction of funds it will receive under the Federal Assistance Grant in 2012/2013.
Councillors considered a report on the Federal Assistance Grant, made available through the Local Government Grants Commission, at Tuesday night's Ordinary Meeting.
A report tabled at the meeting said Council's Financial Assistance Grant for 2012/2013 will be $9,720,814.
The amount comprises the year's allocation of $9,953,608 and the CPI/Population Share adjustment for 2011/2012 of negative $232,794.
'The CLP/Population Share adjustment for 2011/2012 is significant and has affected Councils across the state,' the report said.
Financial Assistance Grants have a general purpose component which is distributed between the States and Territories according to population (a per capita basis) and an identified local road component which is distributed between the States and Territories according to fixed historical shares.
Both components of the grants are untied in the hands of local government, allowing councils to spend the grants according to local priorities.
The allocation for Tamworth Regional Council in 2012/2013 is $497,594 less than the original budgeted amount, consisting of $346,909 General Purpose Component and $90,685 Roads Component.
'These amounts are significant and remedial action will need to be taken to the budget to maintain the total accumulated cash position,' the report said.
'Council's Long Term Financial Plan will also be adversely affected as estimates are based on a 2 per cent ongoing annual increase to the Financial Assistance Grant, meaning that the base income projections will be overstated by $437,594'.