Yarra Ranges councillors voted to approve Council’s 23-24 Budget at a public Council meeting on 27 June, supporting the document’s focus on improving day-to-day life for residents, community groups and businesses and renewing existing community assets.

Council’s Budget outlines every service and program of Council and how it will be funded for the coming year, including capital works projects, day-to-day services and projects to be completed before July 2024.

Yarra Ranges Mayor, Jim Child, said that community had told Council that continuing services and providing good local infrastructure were a must in this year’s Budget.

Read more about how the budget was shaped by community feedback on our website.

Improving day-to-day life for residents, community groups and businesses and renewing existing community assets are key priorities in Council’s Draft 2023-24 Budget.

“Our Budget is created on behalf of, with the assistance of, and for our communities in over 55 towns. It’s one of our most important documents, and so community feedback is critical when we put it together. We heard, in person and online, that people wanted a stronger focus on infrastructure such as roads, footpaths and drainage, to look after existing assets alongside building new ones and prioritise the protection of our environment," Yarra Ranges Mayor, Jim Child, said.

“While we heard from hundreds of people specifically on our budget development, this year’s budget also responds to community feedback from other engagements over the last year, including bin changes and infrastructure projects, which reference similar themes and of course expert decision making from staff about programs and services.”

The way we are asking for input into the development of the budget is changing. In previous years, we have released a Draft Budget to the community for comment. There was a formal submission process and people could choose to present their thoughts directly to Councillors. This was an important, legislated process. However, because the Draft Budget is a large, complicated document, feedback from the community was often limited.

Now, with changes to the Local Government Act 2020, we are able to get you involved much earlier. Your priorities, ideas and suggestions will be considered, together with the feedback we get from customers on a daily basis and insights from local and council-wide engagement projects throughout the year, such as the Nature, Waste, and Asset plans and more. These will be balanced with existing financial commitments and legislated requirements to inform the Draft Budget 2023-24.

Tell us what services and focus areas you would like Council to prioritise investment in for the future. This will help inform the development of the draft budget that reflects community needs now and in to the future.

Right now there are four main ways to get involved.

1. Share a comment or quick thoughts. Others can also show their support for your ideas (quick answer 'post it' 2 mins)
2. Share your priorities by giving points to groups of services (if you have 5-10 mins)
3. Share your more detailed ideas by completing a form (not visible to others on the page, more than 10 mins)
4. Talk to one of the Council team at a pop-up in your area (see the list for more details)

Each of the activities are explained in more detail below.