The salary bill last financial year for Campbelltown’s 15 councillors, the general manager and senior staff was $2.3 million.
The figure is included in the 2019-20 Financial Statements, which will be tabled at the next council meeting on Tuesday, October 13.
Both salaries for staff, fees for councillors and the mayor and other benefits such as super are included in the $2.3 million figure, which was slightly higher than the year before.
Salaries and related costs of all council staff totalled $70 million, an increase of almost $3 million on the previous 12 months.
The council spent $5.2 million on consultants and professional services in the 2019-20 financial year.
It means that together with the $4.9 million spent the previous 12 months, Campbelltown ratepayers forked out more than $10 million on consultants over two years.
Council also spent $793,000 on advertising during the 12 month period.
The Financial Statements record that council’s total annual revenue was $213.3 million, with rates bringing in $115.4 million, an increase of $2 million over the previous year.
The rise was largely attributable to residential rates growth.
Four years after a special rate hike was introduced, the council’s infrastructure backlog has dropped from $33.7 million to just $12.1 million.
There was a drop in user charges and fees of $2.2m, mainly attributable to the closure of council facilities due to Covid-19 public health orders in the first six months of 2020.
Council’s investment portfolio contributed $4 million in revenue even though it was $1.4m less than the budget estimates due to a slowing of the economy and subsequent reductions in interest rates to record lows.
The Financial Statements state that Campbelltown’s population will be 273,541 people by 2036. That’s a whopping 68 percent increase on the current level.
