Council
17 July, 2026
Roads drain rural budget
DISCUSSIONS about recreational spending, roads, comparisons to other councils and maintenance for council buildings followed the tabling of the Hindmarsh Shire Council Annual Budget 2026/27, adopted at the June 24 council meeting.
With the detailed 74-page document covering everything relevant to income and expenditure in the shire, the 2026/2027 budget was developed “to balance the retention of existing community service levels, maintenance and renewal of assets, and new initiatives to improve amenity and make Hindmarsh a better place to live".
A key set of questions asked during the meeting by councillor Tony Clark was in reference to a table in the document comparing average per ratepayer numbers with those of other shires in Victoria, using nearby Horsham Rural City Council, along with Ballarat and the metropolitan City of Port Phillip, as guides.
Recognising that the comparisons were mainly for the benefit of local residents, Cr Clark highlighted average rate revenue, calculated as the total number of assessments divided by total rates revenue, along with assets per head of population.
The most significant comparison discussed was that the total distance of roads looked after was very challenging for HSC.
The shire has about 598 kilometres of sealed roads and 2590km of unsealed roads.
“(Horsham) had a revenue of $67.4 million, whereas our revenue is only $22 million, so we look at roads, we have enough roads roughly to run from Nhill to Darwin, and yet we're running with basically nearly two-thirds less revenue,” Cr Clark said.
“Is that how I'm reading these numbers?”
Chief executive Monica Revell agreed.
“Yes, and if you go further along the highway and you stop at the City of Port Phillip, their revenue is $318 million,” she said.
“But their road network is like driving from Horsham to the Westgate Bridge.”
Cr Clark said he wanted to highlight the subject because constituents had repeatedly said in community consultations, what mattered was “roads, roads, roads”.
“Would you have a rough percentage of how much we're actually spending of our rate revenue on our roads?” he asked.
Ms Revell said she couldn’t break down the numbers by road, but as part of asset maintenance, the budget allocation was high.
“Of our total expenditure for 26/27 – I won't break it (down) to roads – but in our assets ... that's roads, footpaths, waterways, buildings, swimming pools, sporting ovals – we're spending 64 per cent of our budget in that area,” Ms Revell said.
“You're right, the community told us that roads are important, so we are putting as much money as we can into our assets. So, $15.4 million in the next financial year is going into maintaining those assets.”
Cr Clark said he wanted to highlight the detail in “a very lengthy report” and “why us at Hindmarsh Shire are advocating so much of the differentiation between rural and metropolitan shires”.
“It just indicates how much or how little we're getting and how much we have to maintain with very little,” he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Cr James Barry had noted the downward trend in recreation expenditure.
“I notice the recreation stuff here forecasts just dropping and dropping and dropping each year,” he said.
“Is there a reason for that?”
Ms Revell attributed the reductions to several factors, including the completion of grant-funded projects and accounting changes.
“It will depend on grants that are available throughout the year, but also we’ve undertaken a review of depreciation and where the depreciation is costed to going forward,” she said.
“What we have done is rather than having depreciation spread across multiple areas, we’ve put depreciation for buildings into one area.
“The reduction that we’re seeing in recreation is a result of the sport and recreation master plan – that was a grant we received that was expended this year.
“That is not in next year’s budget because we will have acquitted the grant, but there’s also a reduction in the depreciation.”
The budget documents confirm the trend: town beautification – which covers parks, gardens, and playgrounds – has been cut from a net cost of $1.65 million in 2024/25 down to just $368,289 budgeted for 2026/27, a 30 per cent reduction from last year’s forecast.
Arts, culture and community events dropped from $178,917 to $160,889, and recreation programs fell from $127,335 to $116,014.
Only recreation facilities – driven by the Dimboola Pool upgrade – bucked the trend, rising 19 per cent to $1.02 million.
Deficit question
Cr Barry also pressed management on the broader financial picture.
“Also, $1.6 million in deficit,” he said.
“How are we going to move forward over the next few years? That’s not good.”
Ms Revell acknowledged this and said the budget has cash reserves projected to fall from $7.15 million this year to just $2.75 million by 2030 if current trends continued.
“We are spending $1.6 million more in 2026/27 than we are receiving,” she said.
“We have made some savings over the last few years that we can buffer the additional expenditure in 26/27, but you’re right, it’s not good, it’s not sustainable.
“Over the coming 12 months, we’ll be working closely with councillors, looking at our service levels, looking at where we’re spending money, and looking at how we’re going to remain sustainable going forward.”
She also revealed council developed a new advocacy document calling for a dedicated funding stream for rural councils.
“We know that rural councils have significant assets; they’ve got significant roads,” Ms Revell said.
“What we need is some funding that is untied … funding we can spend as required on our roads or footpaths to just maintain the assets we have.”
Summary
The total amount to be raised by general rates and charges in 2026/2027 is $10.630m, which is an increase of $0.285m from 2025/2026.
The Revenue and Rating Plan includes differentials for farms and commercial/industrial properties (10 per cent discount), recreational properties (50 per cent discount), and non-farm vacant land (100 per cent penalty).
One of the key focuses of this annual budget was addressing the priorities identified by residents.
Council is investing $4.411m in road construction, resheets, reseals and final seals, kerb and channel, and footpaths (capital works).
The 2026/2027 Annual Budget includes total capital works expenditure of $6.435m.
The proposed key initiatives for the 2026/2027 financial year are outlined below.
• Community Infrastructure
$430,000 on the Dimboola Pool
• Infrastructure
$602,000 on unsealed road construction
$363,000 on shoulder resheets
$2,416,000 on sealed road construction
$572,000 on reseals
$134,000 on drainage
$225,000 on kerb & channel
Despite funding constraints affecting rural councils, HSC said they remained committed to actively pursuing State and Federal funding opportunities throughout the year to support Council investment in infrastructure, community facilities and economic development initiatives.
Mayor Ron Ismay said preparing the annual budget was always about making “careful choices on behalf of our community”.
“This year’s budget keeps the focus on practical outcomes including maintaining essential services, looking after the assets people use every day, and planning for improvements that support our towns into the future,” he said.
“Roads continue to be one of the strongest messages we hear from our community, including through farmer consultation sessions, CEO drop-in sessions and the number of customer action requests Council receives annually in relation to road conditions.
“We know roads, footpaths and community infrastructure matter to residents, businesses and visitors, and Council will keep working to attract external funding so we can make every local dollar go further”.
Cr Ismay said Council would also continue advocating strongly for improved maintenance of Department of Transport and Planning roads across the Shire.
“Our local road network does not operate in isolation,” he said.
“State Government C Class roads in Hindmarsh Shire are deteriorating rapidly, and maintenance is very thin on the ground.
“These roads are critical freight, farming, school bus and community access routes, and we will continue to advocate to the State Government for a stronger maintenance response to ensure they remain safe and fit-for-purpose for our communities.”