Frequently Asked Questions

This isn’t a new problem. The gap between revenue and the cost of maintaining Council’s infrastructure has been building for many years. Like many councils across Australia, we are facing costs increasing more than the income being received, with ageing assets needing repair, replacement and upgrade.

Council owns and manages more than 160,000 assets with a combined replacement value of approximately $3. 3 billion – of which $2. 8 billion relate to infrastructure assets. This includes: 

• transport infrastructure such as local roads, bridges, footpaths and other community assets, including parks, buildings and facilities
• water and wastewater infrastructure

Council is reviewing its financial position now to plan responsibly for the future to ensure we can continue to provide and maintain the infrastructure needed for our community now and for future generations.

Council’s financial position is under increasing pressure and not sustainable in the long term without change. There is a clear and growing funding gap that must be addressed to maintain services, renew infrastructure, and meet community expectations into the future.

Financial sustainability means being able to deliver essential services and maintain infrastructure not just today, but into the future. It’s about making sure today’s decisions don’t leave future generations with fewer services, ageing infrastructure, or higher costs to fix problems later.

It means, having enough money over time to fund everyday services like roads, parks, waste, and community facilities, while keeping a sensible level of cash to manage risks and future needs. Looking after our infrastructure properly, by planning ahead to maintain, renew, and replace assets like roads, buildings, and drainage before they fail.

This is so that we can provide the community with safe and reliable infrastructure, consistent service levels over time, and avoid sudden cost increases or service reductions in the future.

Council’s main source of income is rates, which are capped by the NSW Government through IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal). At the same time, the cost of delivering services is rising due to inflation, ageing infrastructure, and increasing responsibilities placed on councils.

Over the past six years, rates have increased by around 3% per year on average, while costs have risen by around 4–5% per year on average. This gap is widening with current inflationary pressures.

Councils are also absorbing costs that were once funded by other levels of government. For example:

• Roads and bridges – maintaining local roads and bridges, which were previously supported by State and Federal grants.
• Community facilities – libraries, sporting fields, and community centres, where councils now cover a larger share of ongoing operations and upgrades.
• Disaster recovery – repairing local roads and drainage after storms or floods, often before government recovery funding arrives. This effects Council’s cashflow as Council needs to use its own cash reserves immediately to respond to damage, and reimbursement funding can take time, creating short-term cash pressure, reducing the cash available for other priorities. Over time, repeated disaster events can slow progress on long-term renewals and improvements.
• Regulatory compliance – environmental monitoring, building inspections, and waste management, which must meet state standards with limited grant support.
• Reduced Federal Government funding – Financial Assistance Grants have declined in real terms over time, placing greater pressure on councils to fund essential services. These grants have fallen from around 1% of Federal taxation revenue in the mid-1990s to approximately 0.5% today
• Growing advocacy for reform – councils across Australia are calling for a fairer funding model, including restoring Financial Assistance Grants to sustainable levels to help maintain local infrastructure and services

These pressures mean that costs are growing faster than income from rates, creating a gap between what we earn and what it costs to maintain essential services and $3.3 billion worth of community assets.

No. Council operates three separate funds: the General Fund, which finances core services, infrastructure, and community outcomes not directly linked to Water and Sewer utilities; the Water Fund, which is dedicated to the provision, maintenance, and renewal of water supply services; and the Sewer Fund, which supports the operation, compliance, and long-term sustainability of wastewater and sewage treatment services.  

While Council is financially stable, the General Fund is deteriorating.  Without change, the amount of maintenance and repairs needed for roads, parks, buildings, and other community assets will continue to grow, and future Councils may face tougher decisions about services, spending, and repairs. 

Council is taking an open and evidence-based approach.Council has engaged independent financial experts, AEC Group, to review our current and future financial position. This early work helps identify risks, opportunities and realistic options and ensures Councillors are making decisions based on independently validated facts, not assumptions.

Under the preferred scenario in the draft Long Term Financial Plan, the permanent Special Rate Variation required is estimated to be a cumulative increase of 34.4% achieved progressively over three years of rate increases – 11.9% in 2027/28, 11.9% in 2028/29 and 7.35% in 2029/30. These proposed increases include a rate peg of 3.9%.

No decision to apply for a Special Rate Variation has been made. The final decision as to whether Council will submit an application to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) will be made in late 2026.

No. Council is financially stable and operating normally. This review is about proactive early planning to make sure we can continue to deliver essential services and maintain infrastructure for the community in the years ahead.

A portion of your rates helps pay for Council staff who deliver services to the community. On average, around 33% of Council’s general rates revenue is spent on staffing.

Staff are essential to deliver day-to-day services and projects. Without them, Council would not be able to maintain infrastructure, respond to community needs, or provide local programs and facilities. Approximately 70% of Council staff live also live in our Shire.

In addition, there are legal requirements that require councils to manage water and sewer funds separately from the general fund, with revenues collect only to be used for their intended purpose. Thisensures transparency, accountability, and that these essential services are financially sustainable and appropriately funded over the long term.

Water rates have increased as part of a necessary and evidence-based approach to ensuring the long-term sustainability of Council’s water infrastructure. A contributing factor to the current increases is the historical decision to freeze water rates between 2016/17 and 2019/20 during the previous Special Rate Variation (SRV) period, which deferred cost recovery and placed downward pressure on revenue over time.

The current adjustments also reflect the outcomes of the Water and Sewer Pricing Review, which has assessed the cost of delivering these essential services and confirmed the need to align pricing with efficient cost recovery principles. This ensures that water infrastructure is appropriately funded, maintained, and renewed, while supporting a financially sustainable service for the community into the future.

For the 2026/27 financial year, there is a proposed 15% access charge for water services and a 26% increase to water usage (to recover costs associated with operating, maintaining and renewing infrastructure as well as cover increased costs associated with the purchase of bulk water from WaterNSW) and a proposed 8.5% raise to sewer.

A number of assumptions have been made in forecasting the increase of other Council's Water Charges. These assumptions have been made for forecasting purposes.

Independent experts provide an objective, evidence-based view of Council’s finances. This ensures transparency, credibility and confidence that decisions are informed by accurate data and long-term analysis. This is an extremely large body of work, involving hundreds of hours of detailed financial modelling and assessment, work that Council does not have the internal capacity to undertake on its own.

No decisions have been made. Council has resolved that financial sustainability will be a key focus of this term, which is why we are undertaking this comprehensive review. This process is about understanding the facts and options first. Councillors will review the analysis and consider a range of evidence-based options before making any decisions.

A report, including a remodelled Long Term Financial Plan, will be presented to Council in April 2026. This report will outline options for Councillors to consider.

Before any decision is made to apply for a Special Rate Variation, Council must follow a strict process that gives the community the opportunity to have a say, in line with requirements set by Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).

What this means for residents: Council will share information and options, through the remodeled Long Term Financial Plan, and draft Asset Management Strategy, with the community and ask for feedback.

There will be a formal public exhibition period, where you can make a submission, and Council will consider all community feedback before making a final decision on whether to apply for a Special Variation on rates.

No decisions have been made about service levels or rates. This review will result in a set of recommendations, which may include service reductions or rate increases, but we will not know the outcomes until the final report is completed.

There is no single solution, and any path forward will involve trade-offs between services, assets, revenue and timing. Council is committed to being clear and upfront about these choices and what they mean for the community.

The last time Wingecarribee Shire Council increased its general rates above the standard rate cap (rate peg) was when it secured a special variation from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in 2016.

Find details on our Participate Wingecarribee website

The additional income from the 2016 Special Rate Variation helped Council begin addressing infrastructure backlogs and improve financial sustainability. However, it did not fully resolve the issue due to a combination of factors:

• The backlog was significant – the funding allowed Council to make progress, but not eliminate the gap entirely
• Costs have continued to rise – construction, materials and service delivery costs have increased faster than rate caps in recent years
• Asset knowledge has improved over time – in the past, asset condition data and long-term modelling were not as advanced as they are today. Improved data and asset management practices have since identified a larger and more accurate renewal task
• External impacts – including severe weather events and natural disasters have added new damage and costs
• Structural challenges in the rating system – rate pegging has generally not kept pace with the real cost of delivering services, meaning councils across NSW face ongoing financial pressure
• Advocacy for change – councils, including Wingecarribee, are advocating to State and Federal Governments for reforms to funding models, including Financial Assistance Grants and the rating framework. Both levels of government are currently undertaking inquiries into local government financial sustainability

As a result, while progress has been made, the challenge has continued to grow and requires ongoing investment.

In NSW, Council’s general rate increase is updated annually, with the maximum allowable increase (the “rate peg”) determined each year by Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), coming into effect from 1 July each year. Council may only exceed this cap where a formal Special Variation has been approved, and compliance with the rate peg and rating outcomes is subject to independent audit through Audit Office of New South Wales as part of Council’s Annual Financial Statements.

Council will share studies, updates and decisions openly and clearly. This includes making information publicly available and explaining what options are being considered and why.

In addition to providing information about financial sustainability and the options being considered, Council will provide community engagement opportunities to ensure the community can participate and have their voices heard. This will include both online and in-person engagement activities.

To stay up to date with upcoming engagement opportunities, follow Participate Wingecarribee. 

Acting now gives Council more choice, more control, and better outcomes for the community. Delaying action reduces flexibility and allows existing issues to grow into much larger, and more expensive, problems.

If action is delayed:
• Essential repairs and renewals are pushed back, meaning assets like roads and facilities continue to deteriorate
• It will be more expensive in the long run. It is cheaper to maintain assets properly throughout their life cycle than to rebuild them later once they have failed
• Assets will deteriorate. Poorer asset condition can impact the safety and usability of community infrastructure
• Council may be forced into reactive decisions, including service reductions

Acting early means fixing problems while they are still manageable, helping keep costs lower, maintaining services, and protecting the infrastructure our community relies on into the future.

Councils across the country receive Financial Assistance Grants each year. The amount each council receives is determined through a national funding formula.

The funding formula is designed to provide more support to councils assessed as having greater financial disadvantage. Wingecarribee is considered comparatively less disadvantaged, which results in a lower allocation.

While Wingecarribee has multiple townships and a dispersed population (which can increase costs), the formula does not fully capture these service delivery challenges compared to more remote or disadvantaged areas.

Because Council receives a smaller share of Federal funding, there is greater reliance on local revenue, such as rates, to fund services and maintain infrastructure compared to some other regional councils.

As an example Wingecarribee Council receives approximately $75 per capita in the General Purpose component of the FA Grant, compared to other Inner Regional councils, for example: Shoalhaven $99.67, Eurobodalla $171; Clarence Valley at $178 and Dubbo at $181.

The panel were sourced from community members that had previously completed Council’s Community Satisfaction Survey. The panel is just one of many tools that Council will use to help explore the financial sustainability work.

The Citizen Panel is one part of Council’s engagement process, providing in-depth, deliberative input on financial sustainability. Beyond the panel, the broader community will have opportunities to have their say through: 

• Public exhibition of the updated Long Term Financial Plan – expected in April 2026, when community members can provide feedback on Council’s recommendations. 

Council is committed to transparency, so input from the wider community will be considered alongside the Citizen Panel’s recommendations and the independent financial analysis. 

Cost shifting occurs when councils are required to take on additional responsibilities, services or compliance obligations without receiving enough funding to fully cover the cost.

Over time, these additional costs can reduce the funds available for local priorities such as road renewals, community infrastructure, parks, buildings and other essential services. Cost shifting is one of several factors contributing to financial sustainability challenges being experienced by councils across NSW.

The independent reports prepared by Local Government NSW help illustrate the broader financial pressures affecting the local government sector and provide useful context for Council’s long-term financial planning.