Yarra Ranges Council Budget 2023-2024

Yarra Ranges councillors voted to approve Council’s 23-24 Budget at a public Council meeting on 27 June

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.

Draft Budget 2023-24

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.”

What you told us

How did people get involved?

Between 30 January and 12 March 2023, residents in Yarra Ranges found out about the engagement and got involved in the following ways...

So, what did you tell us?

We have listed the top issues in priority order, based on the feedback we received from all the different activities. We have also included a few of the most common responses under each of the groupings below.

  • How did we identify the priorities?

    The order was determined by combining the following responses:

    • 189 people took part in the 'fund-it' voting activity
    • 53 people completed the 'fund-it' activity at the pop-ups
    • 29 council volunteers and 42 staff, took part in 'fund it' activities at Council facilities.

    The sentiment and comments have been gathered from the following:

    • 293 people left comments, sometimes more than one, on the virtual post-it notes. This included 46 primary school aged children.
    • 48 people completed long-form submissions

  • #1 Roads, footpaths and trails

    • Looking after our roads including fixing potholes, sealing dirt roads and safety on roads.
    • Building new sections of footpaths to improve connections and accessibility in communities.
    • Love the trails and are looking forward to more being completed.

  • #2 Drains and water

    • Improving and maintaining drains to reduce flooding.
    • Increased heavy rain is impacting on the existing drains.

  • #3 Sporting facilities, open spaces and reserves

    • Consider other sports, not just football and netball
    • More activities for older people
    • Improve sporting facilities
    • Maintain and enhance our beautiful parks and bushland
    • Open spaces and parks are important to the community.

  • #4 Environment and climate change

    • Plant more trees, look after the ones we have
    • More funding for weed management
    • Care for the environment and protect wildlife habitat
    • Reduce resource usage, consider climate change

  • #5 Children and older people

    • Local playgrounds, activities and spaces for children and young people are important
    • Social and physical activities for older people to stay healthy and connected
    • Safe and accessible footpaths for all ages

  • # 6 Thriving community

    • Supporting community groups and community gardens
    • Maintaining community facilities to support a range of activities
    • Support homeless people in Yarra Ranges
    • Engaging with and listening to the community is important

  • = #7 Safety and health

    • Support for emergency preparedness in communities
    • Support groups that work with vulnerable community members
    • Improve planning for future disasters
    • Improve mental health services and support

  • = #7 Planning and development

    • Planning and development that protects the environment is important
    • Overdevelopment in some areas is a concern
    • Planning and permits can be difficult to understand and progress
    • Appropriate housing for older residents and young people, and good planning to support housing needs
    • Beautification of townships is important for locals and visitors

  • # 8 Local economy and business

    • Feedback was divided on the balance between servicing local residents and encouraging visitors to the region
    • More support for small businesses / sole traders needed
    • Growing the economy in a way that protects the environment is important

  • #9 Efficient and responsible Council

    • Council needs to be efficient and transparent with our money and the decisions it makes
    • Make sure Council is responsible with ratepayer money
    • Genuine and varied ways to give feedback is important.

What we asked you

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.

We want your input

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.

  • Invest your 100 points (5-10 min activity)

    Have you got 5-10 minutes? You have 100 points, tell us how you would invest it in our future.


    Activity closed - see the results 

  • I've got a lot of ideas to share

    If you need more space to share your ideas, complete the general feedback form.

    Closed

Timeline

  • Timeline item 1 - complete

    Early budget engagement

  • Timeline item 2 - complete

    Draft budget released to the public

  • Timeline item 3 - complete

    Final budget considered and approved by Council

    27 June 2023

Contact Us

If you have questions or want to learn more about this project, contact us below:

Contact Information
Name Yarra Ranges Council
Phone 1300 368 333
Email mail@yarraranges.vic.gov.au
In writing

Attn: Manager Finance

PO Box 105, Lilydale Vic 3140