Photo by Karen Bilney

Have Your Say on this Year’s Draft Budget

30 April 2025

Whyalla City Council is seeking your feedback on this year’s draft budget, which focuses on maintaining existing services and assets, as well as delivering several major projects (predominantly funded by government) to improve the city’s liveability.

With council actively improving its financial outlook over the past 12 months, it has been able to keep the proposed rate rise to 3.1% – only 0.6% above the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 2.5%. This equates to less than $1 per week for the average residential property and is below the Long-Term Financial Plan’s projected rate rise of 3.9%.

As well as delivering ongoing services and assets, the draft budget includes major community projects, that are predominantly Federal and State Government funded, such as:

• Completing the $32m airport runway upgrade
• Finalising designs for the new $6.4m Whyalla Foreshore Centre building, which will incorporate the Surf Life Saving Club, café and kiosk, with the possibility of other tenants
• Completing a $2.4m renewal of the Whyalla Boat Ramp, as well as dredging of both the Whyalla and Point Lowly Marinas
• Finalising design work for the $6.2m foreshore Splash and Play Plaza – incorporating community feedback – followed by the commencement of construction

Mayor Phill Stone said with the city continuing to deal with economic challenges, council had focused on delivering the lowest rate increase possible without compromising long-term financial sustainability.

“Although we have made significant improvements in the past 12 months, council continues to operate in a deficit position due to dealing with ageing infrastructure; a loss-making airport: and static population and housing growth; so it’s critical that we at least cover CPI,” Mayor Stone said.

“While FY26 will see several major projects delivered, council has minimised the impact of these projects on our ratepayers through an unprecedented level of lobbying for government funding and support.

“This has resulted in the largest government investment in our city in many decades –  $40m in total – which will vastly improve liveability for our community while helping attract new residents to live and work in Whyalla.

“The additional 0.6% above CPI will enable council to make its contribution to these projects, while also helping prioritise resolving a number of legacy issues across the city.”

Mayor Stone said it was important residents participated in the consultation process over the coming weeks to ensure they are able to have their say through the proper channels to help shape council’s priorities for the year ahead.

“We want to hear your thoughts on this year’s draft budget to ensure these are taken into consideration before adopting the final plan,” he said.

“If you have any queries or concerns, don’t simply complain on social media – get along to these sessions and provide your feedback formally and constructively.”

Community consultation is open from 1 May to 26 May. Feedback can be provided by:

• Attending one of the community information sessions at the Civic Building on Grundel Street at 6pm on Tuesday 6 May or 6pm on Wednesday 21 May
• Completing a written submission on council’s website
• Emailing council@whyalla.sa.gov.au
• Writing to: PO Box 126 Whyalla SA 5600
• Providing a verbal submission at the May council meeting (from 5.30pm Monday 19 May)

All feedback received will be carefully considered by council prior to the adoption of the budget in June.

A full copy of the draft Annual Business Plan and Budget is available here

Or you can view at council offices

Due to the rate capping implemented last year as part of the required shift to Capital Value rating, some residents will see a greater-than-3.1% increase, while others will see a less-than-3.1% increase. Anyone interested in knowing their exact rate change prior to the issuing of rates in July is therefore encouraged to either attend a community information session, or contact council on 8640 3444 or council@whyalla.sa.gov.au.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don’t you just cut the waste out of your budget and reduce rates?

Council does not have any “waste” in its budget. There is currently no capacity in the budget and in many cases, budget pressures mean that additional funding, not less, is likely required to deliver services to expected levels. As the community has previously been sensitive to cuts in services, Council is juggling these budget pressures to ensure that expected levels of service can continue to be delivered. Council is undertaking a series of service reviews to ensure that services are being delivered in the most efficient and effective manner possible, which should hopefully generate savings over time. If in the short term the community wanted a lower rate increase, or no rate increase at all, then they would need to identify which services they wanted Council to dial back or stop. The community is encouraged to attend one of the information sessions to discuss any ideas they may have.

Council have predicted CPI to be 2.5%, so why are rates going up by 3.1%?

CPI (a measure of inflation) is a relevant index to compare rate increases to, as a large portion of Council’s cost base is impacted in part by changes in CPI, and it is a reliable measure that is fairly well understood. However, as Council’s costs are also impacted by other factors, the rate increase does not align completely with CPI. These factors include:

• Council experiences costs such as wages and capital expenditure that are not part of the normal household budget, so are not captured in CPI. These costs tend to go up by more than CPI and so put upwards pressure on rate increases. For example, capital costs have gone up by over 40% over the last few years, well above CPI. In addition, Council needs to fund the increases that have been occurring in the superannuation guarantee, which increases total wage costs.
• As outlined in the Annual Business Plan, investment in New Assets has been reduced over the term of the Long-Term Financial Plan, to improve Council’s financial position. However, some spend on New Assets is still required – mostly to contribute to major projects that are predominantly government funded – and this needs to be funded by a small additional rate increase.
• Council is currently in a deficit position and a small additional rate increase is required to move to a surplus over the next few years.

These factors mean that an additional 0.6% increase is required above CPI for the current year. This is equivalent to about $10 per year for the average residential property.

The rate revenue increase is 3.1%, but what about the impacts of the move from Site Value to Capital Value?

To assist with the transition of the basis of rating from Site Value to Capital Value last financial year, Council introduced a system of capping. This means that individual properties that with large increases resulting from that change will move to this over a number of years. Approximately 2,150 ratepayers, or 19% of all properties, received capping in 2024/25.

These properties will experience a rate increase in 2025/26 that is above the average increase of 3.1%, as they continue to transition to their new rating level. The rate increase for these properties will continue to be capped, with approximately 750 properties expected to receive this cap.

The majority of properties that did not receive capping in 2024/25 will experience a rate increase at or below the average of 3.1%.

Residential properties will experience an average rate increase of 2.8% for 2025-26, 0.3% below that experienced by all property types combined. It was outlined last year that this would occur, and is likely to also occur for 2026-27.

Council has put in place all the measures it can to reduce the impact of the change from Site Value to Capital Value, however acknowledges that the change has had a significant impact on some ratepayers. Anyone with queries regarding their rate rise can contact council on 8640 3444 or council@whyalla.sa.gov.au.

I hardly use any Council services, so what do I get for my rates?

Rates are a property-based tax, not a fee for service. Rates fund the services required by the community as whole, but the level of rates paid, and services received, will not match at the individual level. Rates are a tax on the value of property owned, which is considered to be a measure of wealth (and therefore capacity to pay).

Council is required to provide a range of facilities and services for the entire community, regardless of whether individual ratepayers utilise them. This includes an airport, child care centre, library, visitor centre; as well as maintenance of roads, footpaths, weeds, trees, playgrounds etc.

The rates I will pay are higher than a similar valued property in Adelaide, why is this?

The average value of a property in Whyalla is lower than that in Adelaide, and the difference can be quite considerable depending on which metropolitan council you are comparing with.

However, Council still needs to provide the same services that a metropolitan council provides, and in some cases even more. The cost of providing these services is not cheaper in Whyalla just because our property values are lower, in fact it is often more expensive to provide services in regional areas.

This means that Council needs to raise the same value of rates that a comparable metropolitan council would, but because our property values are lower, the Rate in the Dollar required to achieve this is higher, resulting in higher rates for similarly valued properties.

A better measure is the average rates paid by each property, which for Whyalla is closely aligned to the state average.

Council needs to do more to ensure the city looks presentable.

Council is aware that service levels in the city need to meet community expectations, particularly in regard to city presentation. Areas of particular focus include the management of trees, weeds and illegal littering. Some additional budget has been allocated to this; however novel approaches will be required to make significant improvements in these areas while operating within current budget constraints.

Council has decided to cut back on New Asset investment, so why is the Foreshore Plaza still included in the plan?

Extensive community consultation was undertaken on the Foreshore Masterplan, and planning for delivery of the first stage in the form of the Foreshore Plaza is well advanced. The community was highly engaged in the development of the Community Plan and during this process made it clear that this project is a high priority.

The project was included on the condition that 50% external funding be used to fund the project. Council was successful in securing $3.1 million from the Growing Regions Program, which meets this requirement.

Council considered a number of prudential reports in late 2023 that outlined the risks and financial implications of proceeding with the project in two different forms. Council approved the grant application to proceed, and resolved that the ongoing operating costs of the new assets will be funded from interest savings from land sales to the State Government for strategic projects. This ensures that this one-off opportunity results in ongoing positive benefits for all Whyalla residents.

Recent reports say that Council is potentially financially unsustainable, what is being done to fix this?

The decisions taken by Council over the last 12 months have meant that Council’s financial outlook has improved dramatically compared to the figures analysed by ESCOSA last year, which led to them finding that Council was at risk of being financially unsustainable.

This is not to say that Council’s financial sustainability is now guaranteed, but it is definitely moving in the right direction. The rest of the current Council term will require strong budget discipline and Council also needs to continue to build capacity into its budget over the next few budget cycles, to ensure it can deliver current service levels as expected.

The CEO Report on Financial Sustainability - included within the draft Annual Business Plan and Budget - includes more detailed information on this topic.