Mitchell Shire councillors labelled a snapshot of council’s projects, finances and other capital works as ‘very satisfactory’ at last week’s ordinary meeting.
Council received reports benchmarking the organisation’s progress against its council plan and budget for 2022-23 after the third quarter of the financial year.
A significant projects report, which outlines projects costing more than $200,000 or that cost less but are still considered significant by council, showed that of 48 projects undertaken, 22 were on track for completion.
Nine of the 48 projects on the list were behind schedule but considered recoverable, five were not scheduled to commence in the third quarter and three were deferred, while eight had been completed.
Among projects behind schedule were a review of Hidden Valley’s planning controls, a shire-wide integrated transport strategy, and an economic development strategy.
Cr Rhonda Sanderson said it was ‘heartening’ to see most projects on track, while Cr Rob Eldridge called the report ‘a pretty good outcome’.
“For anybody who has been involved in projects, there are always some issues that arise, so I think we’re making good progress,” Cr Eldridge said.
Councillors also noted a quarterly financial report that showed ‘ups and downs’ according to Cr Sanderson.
A revision of council’s underlying budget deficit showed a favourable variance of $2.33 million against a forecasted $2.96 million, driven largely by higher-than-expected interest on term deposits and increased operating grants, but offset by expenditure on materials and services associated with flood clean-up works across the north of the shire.
“Given the challenges we’ve faced over the past nine months, it’s not a bad outcome,” Cr Sanderson said.
“One of the highlights is the total capital works expenditure forecast for the year is nearly $63 million and we look like we’re on track to get a good proportion of that done.”
Cr David Lowe said the result was a small step in the right direction.
“[It is] not necessarily worthy of a party, but a very satisfactory position,” he said.
Progress on Mitchell Shire’s capital works program was also deemed satisfactory by councillors, with nearly 78 per cent of the program’s total allocation forecasted to be spent by the end of the financial year.
The capital works update noted prolonged wet weather had played havoc with projects in the latter half of 2022, delaying several and causing their timelines to be extended.
The report also stated increasing material costs and supply chain shortages presented challenges for both council staff and contractors.
