COUNCILS across remote, rural and regional New South Wales are calling on the Federal Government to increase its investment in Local Government.

NSW Country Mayors Association of NSW chairman Rick Firman said investment by successive Federal Governments in Local Government through the Financial Assistance Grants has fallen from 1 per cent of total tax revenue in the mid-1990s to around 0.5 per cent today.

“It is just not sustainable,” Cr Firman said.

The CMA has launched a new campaign called Invest in Us with the goal of raising awareness of the need for a greater investment from the Federal Government into the provision of Local Government services and facilities.

“The board and our members are excited about the campaign which is also supported by LGNSW,” Cr Firman said.

“We want our residents to understand how, in so many ways, every day, our councils are providing the services and facilities that we all count on. However, it is getting harder and harder to do so.

“Everyone wants parks, sporting fields, swimming pools, playgrounds, roads, libraries and theatres as well as economic and community development, planning and engineering services.

Local Government provides these services and in the case of our members they are being provided to almost three million people living across around 700,000 square kilometres from the coast to the western plains of New South Wales,” he said.

“If the Federal Government wants our communities in remote, rural and regional locations to continue to have the access to these essential services and facilities, then they must increase their investment in us.

“Local Government creates the communities we all live and work in. We need the Federal Government to invest in us, so that we can invest in our communities.”

NSW Country Mayors Association of NSW chairman, Rick Firman, with Yass Valley mayor, Jasmine Jones, at the recent Invest in Us Launch (Image: Supplied).

The financial sustainability of Local Government is currently in the spotlight with a Federal Government Inquiry into the issue.

Minister for Local Government and former Mayor of Bega Valley Shire, Kristy McBain, is leading the inquiry.

One of the issues the inquiry will consider is how funding arrangements, including indexation freezing, influences the financial sustainability, service delivery capacity and infrastructure investment of Local Governments.

“The CMA board and members welcome this Inquiry,” Cr Firman said.

“We find it hard to believe it will not identify that the current Federal funding has not kept pace with growing demands for services and facilities.

“The restoration of the Financial Assistance Grants to 1 per cent would immediately double the revenue that most councils currently receive.

“The increase would not only wipe out deficits but also reduce the need for special rate variations to which a growing number of our 89 members have been forced to consider and implement.

“All we are asking is for the Federal Government to restore the funding to 1 per cent of total tax revenue. This could be achieved incrementally over the next three Federal Budget cycles.

“We are more than happy for them to keep the remaining 99 per cent to meet Federal budget needs.

“For many of our members this is about keeping the doors open, the status quo simply cannot and must not continue,” Cr Firman said.

The Invest in Us campaign will be engaging with both State and Federal politicians, local stakeholders and the community to push for the restoration of the grant to 1 per cent of total tax revenue.