Campbelltown Council is holding an emergency meeting tonight to discuss its response to a massive $5 million cut to its annual NSW Grants Commission allocation.
Under a proposed new methodology, Campbelltown Council, which last year received around $11 million in general purpose and road grants, will get around $6 million for the 2026-27 financial year.
This would mean Campbelltown will miss out on a whopping $50 million in grant funding over the next 10 years.
“A reduction of almost half of council’s financial assistance grant represents a severe financial shock and places council’s long-term financial sustainability, service delivery and infrastructure renewal capacity at risk,’’ says a report for tonight’s extraordinary meeting.
“The magnitude and timing of the proposed change would leave Council with no practical pathway to absorb the loss without imposing significant financial burdens on the community, reducing essential services, or materially scaling back infrastructure renewal,’’ says the report.
“Should the Commission disregard concerns raised and move to implement the proposed methodology, Council would need to consider the following options to offset the reduction of our operating budget of this magnitude and ensure our long-term financial sustainability:
• reduce, defer or discontinue significant community services
• organisational and workforce adjustments
• limit service enhancements needed to support population growth
• increase all non-statutory fees and charges by 30 per cent
• reduce asset maintenance and renewal leading to closure of assets reaching poor condition with safety concerns
• loss of adequate essential community infrastructure and services
• reduce annual capital works program by 21 per cent and increase asset backlog by 33 per cent in year 1
• redirect funds from strategic priorities; and/or • seek a Rate Variation to maintain existing services
Tonight, councillors are expected to approve a response to the proposed new methodology which calls for a full review and testing before it is adopted by the NSW Grants Commission.
The response also calls for the mayor and chief executive officer to make representations to relevant ministers, members of parliament and senior government officials on the review of the methodology to ensure council’s ongoing financial sustainability.
