CABONNE Council may need to prepare for a tougher fight for government funding, after Deputy Mayor Jamie Jones raised concerns about the future availability of grants.
The issue was raised at council’s August Infrastructure and Community Committee meeting, where Cr Jones asked whether municipal officers should identify and prepare a pipeline of projects that could be ready to put forward if government funding becomes available.
He said Cabonne had worked through a significant number of projects in recent years, but the council needed to consider what projects could be prepared for future funding opportunities.
Cr Jones said the frequency of grant funding was beginning to decline and warned competition between municipalities was likely to increase.
“We’re starting to see the frequency of our grant funding starting to dry up a little bit,” he said.
Deputy general manager Matthew Christensen said council could improve its chances of securing future funding by investing money upfront to get projects to a stage where funding bodies had confidence they could be delivered within a grant program timeframes.
The approach has already been used for projects including roads and floodplain management.
Council has secured funding for the detailed design of the Molong flood levy, while work is also progressing on flood warning infrastructure including river gauges.
Mr Christensen said municipalities across NSW were increasingly competing for available grant funding, with some councils having experienced fewer natural disasters and therefore having received several years of grant funding opportunities.
Cabonne’s recent experience with natural disasters has resulted in significant spending across the region, but council acknowledged that new infrastructure also creates ongoing costs.
The discussion raised the possibility of creating a list of priority projects that could be kept “in the bottom drawer” and progressed if a future government funding opportunity became available.
Cr Jones said council would need to balance the pursuit of grants with its long-term financial sustainability, as new assets also create ongoing maintenance and operational costs.
Council is expected to continue discussions about which projects should be prioritised and prepared for future funding opportunities.