Dubbo Regional Council appoints AEC Group to review finances

The council has appointed AEC Group to investigate its current financial position and develop recommendations for the future.

One of the key areas of investigation will be around rates.

The amount a council can increase its rates by is set each year by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal. For councils to increase rates above what is recommended, approval has to be granted by IPART.

In June, the council voted to undertake a community engagement and education program on the council's financial position and the potential for a special rate variation.

The council's chief executive officer Murray Wood said the review would last for five weeks.

"The review will examine council's current financial and operational performance, including benchmarking against other regional councils, an assessment of the forward projections of council's financial performance against the key performance measures set by the NSW Office of Local Government and identification of challenges and opportunities (including efficiencies and savings) for consideration when developing a Financial Sustainability Strategy," Mr Wood said.

"Report recommendations will be modelled to examine operational and service level reductions with no special rate variation and current or increased service delivery and asset renewal with the application of a special rate variation."

Once that information is developed, the outcomes will be shared with the community for further input.

Mayor Mathew Dickerson said could was committed to ensuring financial stability and exploring options with the community to address "long term financial challenges".

Cr Dickerson said an independent report with clear data and recommendations would be critical in decision making in the future.

"These challenges have arisen for a number of reasons including increased demand on services, cost shifting and ageing infrastructure. I anticipate there will be a range of recommendations on how these challenges can be addressed," he said.

Once completed, The Financial Sustainability Review is expected to be presented to a future meeting of the council.

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