‘Tight ship’ steers prosperous plans

“I really encourage all the people at home to get on and have a look just to see how well this council is going – how we’re moving forward, how we’re spending that money,” he said.

“I’m gobsmacked at how impressive this is. It truly is a credit to the workers who have done it.”

Cr Peter Joyce said the budget was a model of prudent financial management for the municipality.

“All the stuff that we’re going to be able to achieve throughout this budget is pretty amazing, and to be able to improve all these things and keep delivering services to the community is excellent,” he said.

Undergirding the budget is the council’s 2025-29 revenue and rating plan, also adopted at the meeting.

While the 2025-26 financial year will see the council raise its rates for the first time in eight years, the 1.5 per cent hike is only half the allowable raise under the State Government’s Fair Go Rates system.

Mayor Jo Armstrong said the council had done everything in its power during the past decade to suppress rates for its residents.

“Our really minimal, tiny rate increase across the board to our rating budget pales in comparison to some of the hikes that we see in other charges that are being inflicted across ratepayers,” she said.

“We know that we have a council elsewhere in the state that has received permission to increase their rating budget by 10 per cent. Our proposed rating increase is half of the Fair Go Rates cap, and I think this council and the organisation should be very proud of maintaining an incredible record of being able to run such a tight ship.”

Council chief executive Tim Harrison said he was also proud of the financial record of the council during his tenure, and endorsed the budget and rating plans.

“This is the first rate rise we’ve had on average in eight years – I think that’s testament to the organisation and the efficiency with which it’s run,” he said.

“The thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve massively increased the capacity we have as an organisation to fund capital works internally.

“That’s now gone to in excess of $10-million a year funded through internal and ongoing grant revenue, which is a huge step up from where we were seven years ago.”

Council also adopted Community Vision 2035 and Council Plan 2025-29 documents.

The Community Vision 2035 outlines the council’s aspirations for the region across the next decade and provides an overarching framework for the four-year council plan.

Addressed in the community vision are objectives including population growth; continuous and sustainable economic development, focused on job creation in industries including agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and tourism; and leadership in local environmental management.

Dr Harrison said he was pleased the community vision and council plan largely aligned with previous council documents.

“This indicates councillors are prepared to continue with what I see as a fairly successful strategic alignment that we’ve had over time,” he said.

Cr Sanders said the documents gave the council ‘really good direction going forward’.

“We have made a couple of changes, but I think this gave us great direction over the past four years and I think it will help our three new councillors, as well as our existing councillors from the last term, continue on in the direction we need to carry,” he said.

Cr Joyce said he was proud of both documents.

“The feedback from residents was invaluable and reflects many of the priorities I stood for at my election, such as beautifying the entries into our towns, improving facades in Barkly Street, promoting tourism and supporting strong population growth – all things that are very important for Ararat to prosper in the future,” he said.

People can view each of the documents online at www.ararat.vic.gov.au/council-documents.