General Manager Craig Butler speaks out about Lithgow Council's financial troubles

"Over the previous 18 months, Lithgow has been affected by drought, bushfires, flooding and Covid," he said.

"This has required the Council to allocate significant workforce and financial resources to the management of these issues at the time, and also after the events to assist with recovery.

"At the same time, we continued to provide all of the usual services that the community expects of us. We have received wonderful feedback from the community about the roles we have played."

Mr Butler said they are appreciative of the assistance that has been provided by other levels of government, the above circumstances have stretched our financial capacity.

"We are not alone in this regard. On the second last page of the report dealing with the third quarter review of our budget, there is an acknowledgement that there has been a significant increased trend of Councils delivering deficit budgets," he said.

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"Other levels of government are also experiencing these challenges."

Mr Butler said there has been quite a bit of cost shifting, which is outlined again on the second last page of the report.

"The community would also be quite surprised about the range of services and functions that we deliver on behalf of the other levels of government," he said.

"Notwithstanding the financial challenges, we have delivered some great projects throughout this year - with a real focus on parks and gardens and rural road upgrades."

"The work in the Capertee Valley will be complemented next year by the construction of three new bridges in the valley."

Mr Butler said considerable resource and attention is being directed to re-shaping the economy to ensure there are jobs and opportunities for our local workforce into the future.

"Council is committed to delivering these projects, and to return to a financial operating result where income matches expenditure when viewed across both a five year and a 10 year time window," he said.

Read the full report here at Council's website.

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