State supports council financially to improve services

THE State government has announced that the City of Ballarat will benefit from a twenty-million dollar Rural Councils Transformation Program.

The RCTP is about achieving financial sustainability in rural councils, helping them redirect savings to projects that really need cash injection, and strengthening long term services and programs.

Sharing $4.5 million with Ararat, Central Goldfields, Golden Plains, Hepburn and Pyrenees, the City of Ballarat’s quality, effectiveness, and ratepayers’ service affordability should improve with the grant, a first of its kind for the state.

A shared regional IT platform will be rolled out under the program which should assist with council’s finance, payroll, records, safety, fleet management, building, environmental health, planning, waste and community services.

The State government expects this should generate $11 million in reduced costs and productivity benefits across five years, and City of Ballarat Mayor and Central Highlands Councils Victoria Chair, Samantha McIntosh said 230,000 residents will benefit from the $4.5 million.

“This will be a massive transformative project. It will allow us to improve each council’s financial sustainability by reducing service duplication and improving service delivery across the region,” she said.

“It will also allow the six councils to take a regional, rather than municipal, approach to delivering local services to their communities.

“I thank the state government for the funding and look forward to enjoying resource sharing and joint service provision with our fellow councils for the benefit of so many residents across the Central Highlands region.”

Member for Wendouree, Juliana Addison said councils in Victoria’s regions face different challenges to Melbourne.

“We’re collaborating with City of Ballarat Council to support Ballarat people.”