Moira Shire Council has unveiled its draft Financial Plan 2025-35 and draft budget 2025-26 for public feedback, demonstrating its focus on maintaining financial stability while delivering key services and infrastructure to the community.
The draft Financial Plan has been developed to support initiatives outlined in the draft Council Plan 2025-29, providing a framework to achieve the draft Community Vision 2045. Key priorities include enhancing the council's financial position and ensuring proper maintenance of community assets.
Moira Shire Council chair administrator Graeme Emonson highlighted the plan's emphasis on service excellence.
“The draft Financial Plan serves as a roadmap to guide council's financial decisions and ensure they align with both long-term goals and short-term priorities,” he said.
“Guided by this plan, the draft budget 2025-26 outlines how council proposes to allocate its funding in the year ahead, including a $46.5 million works program that contains significant investment in roads, bridges, footpaths and community spaces.”
The proposed budget includes a 3 per cent rise in general rates, which falls within the Victorian Government's Fair Go Rates cap. The rating structure will see changes, with the farming differential rate dropping from 100 per cent to 95 per cent.
Addressing the state government's Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund (ESVF), Moira Shire Council Chief Executive Officer Matthew Morgan said the council was seeking further clarity on how this levy would be distributed and was supporting advocacy efforts to ensure that money raised locally is returned fairly to support Moira Shire's local emergency services.
Residents can access and review the draft Financial Plan and draft budget via the Moira Matters website until midnight on Sunday, June 1.
Find the documents at https://tinyurl.com/3bbnsb7v
