2016-03-07 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                   7 MARCH 2016


 Kerbside Collection
   The reintroduction of the Kerbside collection was well received by our community. We have
   undertaken two such collections in this term.
 Local Laws
   Normally a Council would only review its local laws every seven or so years. Given we
   inherited the Sunshine Coast Council suite of Local Laws, it was important to completely
   review these and adopt a Noosa centric set of Local Laws. This was completed prior to 30
   June 2015.
 Waste Reduction & Recycling Plan
   Following a waste audit, review of options and the community jury, the Council has adopted a
   Waste Strategy for the purpose of public consultation.


Detailed Outcomes of this Term

The most logical way to recap the journey over the last few years is to do so against the prism of
the seven priorities that the Council established via its first Corporate Plan. Many of the details
below were reported to the Council in July 2015 but these details have been updated based on
more recent progress.

Corporate Plan Priority 1 - A financially sustainable Council
We will make sure that our Council is financially sustainable in both the short and long term. This
will entail a focus on strong budget control and good long term planning.

Key achievements include:
 Developing the 2014/15 and 2015/16 budgets based on a zero based budget methodology
   which examined every cost on its merits. The use of the zero based budget methodology
   allowed Council to apply a 0% general rate increase in 2014/15 and 1.4% in 2015/16. This
   zero based budget approach has been recognised by the Queensland Treasury Corporation
   (QTC) as best financial practice.
 Council received a credit assessment from the Queensland Treasury Corporation in April
   2015 which assessed Noosa Council as “sound” with a positive outlook. “Sound” is a 5 on a
   7 point scale. At the time of assessment of the de-amalgamation proposal in 2012, QTC had
   assessed a new Noosa Council as having a “moderate” outlook (4 on a 7 point scale). This
   2015 QTC assessment was a significant achievement. QTC identified a number of key
   reasons why Noosa Council achieved a sound assessment including:
   o   Forecast of surpluses in all future years
   o   The Council was on track to achieve its 2014/15 budget
   o   Low level of borrowings with adequate debt servicing capacity
   o   High levels of forecast liquidity
   o   High level of Council controlled revenue and fiscal flexibility
   o   Capacity to increase net rates and charges if required
   o   Council forecasts adequate investment in its asset base
   o   Zero based budgeting process




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