FAQ

The Council is required to prepare its plans in accordance with the Local Government Act, 1993. This legislation has recently changed and Blue Mountains City Council is implementing the new reforms.

In essence, the Integrated Planning and Reporting reforms require all councils in NSW to adopt a strong sustainability focus with at least a 10-year strategic business planning framework relative to their Local Government Area and the activities of the council.

As a result of the best practice strategic work already undertaken by Council staff on long term community planning and City visioning, long term financial planning, asset planning and human resource planning, Blue Mountains City Council is well placed to meet the reform requirements in the first group of Councils doing so.

The Council provides numerous services to the community and long term planning will ensure the organisation is heading in the right direction - responding to the aspirations and needs of our community whilst addressing the financial and asset management challenges of service provision into the future.

The Plans make transparent to the community, the services the Council provides, the resources required to provide these services and how these services contribute to the priorities of the community.

Direct services to the community:

• Burials and Ashes Placement
• Child Care
• Community Development
• Community Safety
• Cultural Development
• Economic Development
• Environmental Health and Regulatory Compliance
• Environmental Management
• Land Use Management
• Library and Information
• Sport and Recreation
• Tourism
• Town Centres
• Traffic Management
• Transport and Public Access (including Roads)
• Water Resource Management
• Waste Resource Management

Corporate Services that support delivery of services to the community:

• Asset Planning
• Central Warehousing and Purchasing
• City-wide Strategic Planning
• Commercial Activities
• Corporate Strategic Planning and Reporting
• Customer Service
• Financial Management
• Fleet
• Governance
• Human Resource Management
• Information Management
• Operational Buildings, Facilities and Property

A key part of service delivery provided by Blue Mountains City Council is the provision, renewal and maintenance of several hundred million dollars worth of built facilities and infrastructure.

The Council provides and manages the following built facilities and infrastructure:

• Cemeteries (including fencing, pathways and garden beds)
• Buildings for Child Care and Preschool
• Caravan Parks, Residential Buildings, Commercial Buildings
• Public Halls and Community Centres
• Buildings for Rural Fire Service and Emergency Services, Fire Trails
• Buildings for Cultural Development, Monuments, Public Art
• Buildings for Libraries
• Depots and Administration Buildings
• Fitness and Aquatic Centres, parks (including public toilets and shelters), sportgrounds, playing courts, skate parks, walking track and lookouts
• Visitor Information Centres
• Street furniture, litter bins, community notice boards, garden beds, public toilets
• Guardrails, signs, marked crossings, round-a-bouts, pedestrian refuges
• Roads (sealed and unsealed), footpaths, bridges, carparks, bus shelters
• Kerb & gutter, pipes, pits, open channels, stormwater quality improvement devices
• Waste resource management facilities

In preparing its Plans, the Council develops detailed annual budgets that fund the provision of services for the coming financial year. The Council is proposing a balanced budget for 2010-2011 with estimated revenue from ordinary activities of $81,153,778 or if the proposed special variation to rates is approved, estimated revenue from ordinary activities of $84,206,778.

The sources of the Council's is as follows:

• Rates and annual charges - 61%
• User charges and fees - 17%
• Interest - 2%
• Other revenues - 6%
• Grants and contributions provided for non-capital purposes - 14%

The total number of "Equivalent Full Time" Employees at year end 2009 was 434.34.