2014-02-25 Planning & Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                25 FEBRUARY 2014


    $8.8 million for significant business activities; and
    $300,000 for Code of Competitive Conduct business activities.
2.     Application to Noosa Identified Activities for 2013/14

Two of Council’s activities have been identified as competitive in nature that meet the criteria and
relevant threshold levels for identification as business activities. The activities that have been
identified and reform levels to apply (based on the estimated annualised budgeted expenditure)
are:
 Business Activity         Expenditure        Reform Level
 Waste Management          $10.2 million      Significant
 Caravan Parks             $1.2 million       Code of Competitive Conduct

3.     Public Benefit Assessments
Section 46 of the Local Government Act 2009 requires that a public benefit assessment (PBA) be
undertaken for a new significant business activity. A PBA is an assessment of whether the
benefit to the public (in terms of service quality and cost) of applying competitive neutrality in
relation to a significant business activity outweighs the costs.

A number of PBAs were undertaken when NCP reforms were first introduced prior to 2000, with a
further round of PBAs undertaken following the amalgamations in 2008 as a result of the creation
of consolidated financially significant business activities for regional Councils. There has been a
trend with recent PBAs to apply the minimum level of reform (i.e. Full Cost Pricing) as the
benefits of applying Commercialisation have generally not been realised.

As Council’s waste management activity meets the threshold for recognition as a significant
business activity, a PBA would be required to be undertaken in the 2014/15 financial year.
Discussions will be held with the Department of Local Government, Community Recovery and
Resilience to determine if a new PBA is indeed warranted.

FINANCE & RISK
Financing implications primarily revolve around administrative effort in ensuring ongoing
competitive neutrality compliance (budget preparation, reporting, full cost pricing modelling). With
respect to waste management a full cost pricing modelling exercise will be undertaken in
preparation for the 2014/15 budget deliberations.

CONSULTATION
External Consultation - Community & Stakeholder
Nil
Internal Consultation
Interim Director Community Infrastructure

Departments/Sections Consulted:
X    Community Infrastructure                      Community & Development
     Asset Planning & Delivery                     Community Services
     Civil Operations                              Planning & Development
     Environmental Services                        Health & Regulatory Services
     Waste Management                              Business Facilitation
                                                   Community Resilience & Disaster Management

     Executive Office                          X   Organisational Services
     Communications & Governance                   Financial Services
     Human Resources                               ICT
     De-amalgamation Coordination                  Property & Contracts


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