Letter to the Editor: Funding pressures escalating for Council

DEAR News Of The Area,

Why is our local government area (LGA) struggling with declining services and infrastructure?

Over my time on the Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association and as a local family, it has become increasingly clear that the pressures on the MidCoast Council are escalating.

We see it every day – in our declining roads, parks, community facilities, and the basic services our villages rely on.

Road maintenance delays, ageing infrastructure, and slow – or no – progress on local projects are not simply operational issues.

They point to a deeper problem: a funding model that is no longer working for all of regional Australia.

At the centre of this is the long-term decline in Financial Assistance Grants – the core untied funding councils depend on to deliver essential services.

These grants have fallen from around one percent of Commonwealth taxation revenue to roughly 0.55 percent, and under the current Australian Labor Party federal government, that position has not been restored.

But the issue goes further than the amount of funding.

What we’re seeing is not just less funding – it’s a shift away from flexible, locally controlled funding toward tightly targeted programs that require councils to align with federal priorities, whether or not they match local needs.

For MidCoast, the impact is amplified.

Ours is a large and geographically complex LGA, with extensive road networks, coastal assets, and smaller communities that lack the revenue base of metropolitan areas.

At the same time, NSW rate pegging restricts Council’s ability to raise funds locally.

The result is a widening gap between what our community needs and what Council can realistically deliver.

While multiple pressures exist, the failure of the current federal government to restore fair, flexible funding is a critical driver of the problem.

Until that changes, councils like MidCoast will remain constrained – regardless of how well they are managed.

Our community deserves better.

Until federal funding reflects the realities on the ground, the services and infrastructure we rely on will continue to fall behind.

Regards,
Sandra BOURKE,
Tea Gardens.