The Draft 2024/25 – 2033/34 Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) is our guiding document which helps us balance our budget and plan for our city’s future. It looks at future income and expenses to make sure we can continue to provide services and look after our assets (such as roads and buildings) in a sustainable and fair way.

The Draft 2024/25 – 2033/34 Long Term Financial Plan is a ten-year forecast of Council’s finances based on the services we currently deliver, or plan to deliver. It takes into account any social, economic or political influences on Council’s budget and ensures that any significant expenses are shared fairly across generations.

The LTFP is a key strategic management document, reviewed and updated annually. It outlines the financial strategy for the ten-year period from 2024/25 to 2033/34.

On 25 October 2024 Council adopted the 2024-2025 to 2033-2034 Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP), following the consultation process with the community.

Thank you to our community for reviewing the draft LTFP and providing feedback. During public consultation, over 70 contributors provided feedback via email, the online survey and quick poll on Our Adelaide. Some key outcomes of the consultation are as follows:

• The majority of respondents agreed with the approach of the draft 2024-2025 to 2033-2034 Long Term Financial plan.

• The majority of respondents rated the current condition of CoA assets as good to excellent; and that increased investment in our assets should be spread over eight years rather than four.

• We heard from the community that Mainstreets upgrades are important to attract visitors and support business, however the majority of respondents supported upgrading all five Mainstreets over 8 years rather than 4 years to allow for funding of other projects. Here are some of the communities’ thoughts:

A summary of the consultation feedback can be found here.

Key outcomes of the adopted LTFP include:

• An annual operating surplus position over the life of the plan.

• All Key Financial Indicators within target ranges except for cashflows from operations between 2027/28 – 2030/31 due to an outlay on significant renewals.

• A gradual return of the Asset Renewal Funding Ratio (ARFR) over eight years to 100% from 2031/32 onwards (previously four years to 2027/28).

• Introduction of an Asset Renewal Repair Fund (ARRF) to fund the annual increase of $14.9 million associated with the recently adopted Asset Management Plans (AMPs).

• AMPs are funded through operating revenue but in recognition of the need to balance the community’s capacity to pay while ensuring community expectations are met, this LTFP assumes the use of short-term borrowings to fund the ARRF.

• Significant renewals are required in the mid-to-long term of the LTFP in accordance with the adopted AMPs. These assets by nature are intergenerational, and as such it is intended to fund them through external contributions, in addition to borrowings. As the external funding is not yet secured, there is a risk that Council will need to fund $115 million for the entire renewal of the assets ($42 million in excess of the current assumption).