Long Term Financial Plan 2021-2022

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Long Term Financial Plan 2021 - 2022

This consultation is now complete.

We thank our 41 participants who provided feedback on the Draft Long Term Financial Plan. Feedback was used to inform the final plan presented to and endorsed by Council on 27 April 2021.

The full report presented to Council including the community consultation report can be found in the Council Agenda for 27 April 2021 pages 126 - 179. The summary of feedback on Community Engagement is in Appendix 2 of the full report pages 155 - 179.

You can now view a copy of the endorsed final Long Term Financial Plan in the document library on the right.


We have recently reviewed our Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) and updated it for projections in Council’s planned activities over a ten year timeframe.

Consideration was given to emerging cost pressures relating to tree management, and the financial impact from recent events including bushfires and COVID-19. Given the relatively low operating surplus that has previously been projected, detailed consideration was given to options that could assist Council’s ability to absorb these type of events without significantly impacting on the delivery of Council’s Strategic Plan outcomes and the full range of services and activities.

Once additional tree management costs were factored in, LTFP modelling showed that from 2023-24 Council’s resultant operating costs changed from a moderate surplus to a deficit in the majority of years.

Council also had a desire to:

• improve it's Operating Surplus Ratio over the period of the LTFP to enable capacity to reduce debt whilst also funding a proportion of capital upgrade expenditure, and

• provide increased flexibility to better absorb financial impacts of events such as bushfires.

To ensure that Council’s financial sustainability is maintained in the medium to long term the following key changes and amendments to the LTFP were included:

• Tree Management – the additional costs required to mitigate the significant risks associated with the management of trees following a recent review

• Local Government Price Index (LGPI) - An increase in rate revenue through indexing rates relative to the LGPI as opposed to CPI from 2023-24

• Increase Operating Surplus - an improvement to Council’s Operating Surplus Ratio over the period of the LTFP to enable capacity to reduce debt whilst also funding a proportion of capital upgrade expenditure

• Financial Sustainability Target Changes - amendments to Councils financial sustainability targets to narrow the range of each target.

Further information on each of the above key changes can be found under FAQ's or in the LTFP in the document library on the right pp 4 -9.

We invite you to take a look and let us know if you have any comments by Friday 31 March 2021.

On the right of this page, in the document library, you can download a copy of the Draft Long Term Financial Plan which includes an explanation as to why we need a plan and how we prepare it.

Copies of the Long Term Financial Plan and Summary Document are available at all Libraries, Customer Service and Community Centers, (Woodside, Gumeracha, Stirling and Norton Summit). If you would prefer a hard copy posted please call our team on 8400 0400 or email engage@ahc.sa.gov.au

Have your say

If you need help with providing comments our team is here to help.

  • You can use the question function below to ask our team, or
  • You can get in touch to arrange a meeting via engage@ahc.sa.gov.au or call 8408 0400
  • A feedback form is also provided below for your comments or a hardcopy in the document library on the right.

The results of the feedback provided will be discussed with Council and incorporated into the Final Long Term Financial Plan prior to consideration of the 2021-22 Annual Business Plan and Budget.

Feedback closes Friday 31 March 2021.

This consultation is now complete.

We thank our 41 participants who provided feedback on the Draft Long Term Financial Plan. Feedback was used to inform the final plan presented to and endorsed by Council on 27 April 2021.

The full report presented to Council including the community consultation report can be found in the Council Agenda for 27 April 2021 pages 126 - 179. The summary of feedback on Community Engagement is in Appendix 2 of the full report pages 155 - 179.

You can now view a copy of the endorsed final Long Term Financial Plan in the document library on the right.


We have recently reviewed our Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) and updated it for projections in Council’s planned activities over a ten year timeframe.

Consideration was given to emerging cost pressures relating to tree management, and the financial impact from recent events including bushfires and COVID-19. Given the relatively low operating surplus that has previously been projected, detailed consideration was given to options that could assist Council’s ability to absorb these type of events without significantly impacting on the delivery of Council’s Strategic Plan outcomes and the full range of services and activities.

Once additional tree management costs were factored in, LTFP modelling showed that from 2023-24 Council’s resultant operating costs changed from a moderate surplus to a deficit in the majority of years.

Council also had a desire to:

• improve it's Operating Surplus Ratio over the period of the LTFP to enable capacity to reduce debt whilst also funding a proportion of capital upgrade expenditure, and

• provide increased flexibility to better absorb financial impacts of events such as bushfires.

To ensure that Council’s financial sustainability is maintained in the medium to long term the following key changes and amendments to the LTFP were included:

• Tree Management – the additional costs required to mitigate the significant risks associated with the management of trees following a recent review

• Local Government Price Index (LGPI) - An increase in rate revenue through indexing rates relative to the LGPI as opposed to CPI from 2023-24

• Increase Operating Surplus - an improvement to Council’s Operating Surplus Ratio over the period of the LTFP to enable capacity to reduce debt whilst also funding a proportion of capital upgrade expenditure

• Financial Sustainability Target Changes - amendments to Councils financial sustainability targets to narrow the range of each target.

Further information on each of the above key changes can be found under FAQ's or in the LTFP in the document library on the right pp 4 -9.

We invite you to take a look and let us know if you have any comments by Friday 31 March 2021.

On the right of this page, in the document library, you can download a copy of the Draft Long Term Financial Plan which includes an explanation as to why we need a plan and how we prepare it.

Copies of the Long Term Financial Plan and Summary Document are available at all Libraries, Customer Service and Community Centers, (Woodside, Gumeracha, Stirling and Norton Summit). If you would prefer a hard copy posted please call our team on 8400 0400 or email engage@ahc.sa.gov.au

Have your say

If you need help with providing comments our team is here to help.

  • You can use the question function below to ask our team, or
  • You can get in touch to arrange a meeting via engage@ahc.sa.gov.au or call 8408 0400
  • A feedback form is also provided below for your comments or a hardcopy in the document library on the right.

The results of the feedback provided will be discussed with Council and incorporated into the Final Long Term Financial Plan prior to consideration of the 2021-22 Annual Business Plan and Budget.

Feedback closes Friday 31 March 2021.

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

Please feel welcome to ask us any questions here.

Page last updated: 03 Feb 2022, 05:38 PM