General News
12 June, 2024
Mayors call for fair share of funding from federal government
The councils are pushing for an increase to the Financial Assistant Grants.
North West mayors used the Canberra trip to continue lobbying for an increase in Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs), which they say are crucial to long term infrastructure planning.
It was announced in last month’s federal budget that local governments would receive a total of $3.27 billion in federal FAG grants next financial year, which is an increase of $155 million.
However, the Local Government Association of Queensland criticised the increase, claiming it was merely the result of the legislated indexation formula.
FAGs have declined from 1.2 per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue in 1993-94 to 0.51 per cent in 2024-25.
Mount Isa City Council mayor Peta MacRae said restoring FAGs to at least one per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue was the key to overcoming increasing cost shifting pressures placed on local government.
She said FAGs provided local government with more autonomy because the funds were untied.
“We get three per cent of taxation, but we are responsible for 21 per cent – and increasing – of the work, with councils taking on responsibility for aged care, health, child care,” she said.
McKinlay Shire mayor Janene Fegan said councils with small populations relied on FAGs to provide some budgeting certainty.
“FAGs are money that you can use to plan with,” she said.
“An increase in that money, as we have been lobbying for, would allow us to future plan with more certainty.
“We would like a recreational lake like some of the other councils around us.
“These projects require long-term planning, but we only have a small population and a small rate base, so we are very dependent on funding, such as FAG grants.”
“We are a little fish in a big sea - but we still need to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to enable our growth.”