2022-03-30 Special Meeting Agenda

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA                                                              30 MARCH 2022


Macroeconomic Considerations

A range of external matters that will influence decision-making on priorities and rate setting for the
2022/23 budget, these include:

•    Affordability and local household income levels
•    The employment market
•    Rent prices and housing stock
•    House and land values
•    Population trends
•    Inflation
•    Interest rates
•    Economic conditions (GDP)
•    Federal and State Government funding arrangements for grants and subsidies
•    Ongoing impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic
•    Disaster recovery

Budget Community Engagement
The 2021/22 budget was the first year Council engaged in public consultation for its budget and
became only one of a small number of local government authorities in Queensland taking proactive
steps to increase the level of community engagement through its budget process.
The decision to commence public budget consultation process also followed a Queensland Audit
Office (QAO) report to Parliament in 2018 on Managing Local Government Rates and Charges,
which found that none of the local governments it had audited consulted with the public on their
budgets, the level and quality of services provided to the public, or the rates and charges levied.
Council’s decision to undertake public consultation also pre-empted anticipated future legislative
changes to mandate public consultation on budgets.
The following engagement tools were applied in the 2021/22 budget:
•    Online interactive ‘balance the budget’ tool
•    Face to face sessions with Councillors
•    Full draft budget released via Your Say Noosa website for feedback
The outcomes of the inaugural budget consultation were presented at special council meeting on 16
June 2021. 103 submissions were received via the platforms outlined in the chart below:

Figure 2: Number of Submissions Received from the 2021/22 Budget Consultation Process




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