The Year Ahead

consolidating - prioritising - back to basics

Welcome to the District Council of Yankalilla’s Draft 2023-24 Annual Business Plan & Budget. Our plan outlines what we intend to deliver in the next financial year and how it will be funded. It aims to keep us working towards meeting the 12 community priorities in our Strategic Plan.

We are presenting this plan in draft form, with the intention of receiving community feedback to drive changes. We want to hear from you and encourage you to share your opinions and ideas with us. Your feedback will play a critical role in shaping the final version of the plan. The final adopted budget will be modified and enhanced based on your feedback.

This is your plan and we are listening.  So please speak up! We want to hear from you.

Please take a look at the projects that Council are proposing. Do they match your priorities? Would you like to share your views on our rating policy? We want to hear from you!

Visit Your Say Yankalilla or email feedback to consultation@yankalilla.sa.gov.au to share your opinions and ideas with us.

View the  Draft 2023-24 Annual Business  Plan & Budget here.

We also invite you to attend one of our Q & A Drop-in Conversations or the Public Community Meeting. Find more details here.

Your feedback will play a critical role in shaping the final version of the plan.

The 2023-24 financial year represents the final year of the Strategic Plan Four Year Focus. After a period of large capital investment, significantly supported by State and Federal grant funding, and support from external non-government funders, we are now shifting our focus back to the key priorities identified in the Strategic Plan.

This year our focus will be on delivering the key services that our community expects, maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure and reducing debt.

We understand that our community's needs and wants are central to the decisions made by Council and we are committed to working with you to meet them.

Our goal is to spend the next twelve months working closely with the community, delivering services and activities that reflect your priorities. The consultation process for this Annual Business Plan & Budget provides an opportunity for us to connect with and listen to the community we represent and work for.

Our usual Business Planning and Budget process begins with planning the next year’s budget in the November and December prior. However, an election, and significant change in our Administration leadership team meant that we were unable to start this process until January.

In preparing the 2023-24 Draft Annual Business Plan & Budget, Administration took a clean slate approach and built the budget from the ground up. Whilst historic information was considered, we were mindful of the significant change in mode of operations that Council had experienced during a large capital investment period.

Getting back to basics and understanding what a ‘business-as-usual’ budget looked like, was identified early as a necessary step to ensuring Council’s financial sustainability. The clean slate, back to basics approach, recognised areas for savings where possible without impeding important community services.

The economic environment, with CPI forecast for the nation at 6.7% at June 2023, has made it difficult to provide our current service levels without a rate increase. We have worked hard to limit the flow on effect to the community, however this comes with some sacrifices.

We have utilised our Long-Term Financial Plan, a key tool to assist Council in making well informed, transparent and sound financial decisions, to spread the impact over three financial years. Whilst the LongTerm Financial Plan is looking to our future, it is critical in helping guide us in our current year decision making process.

Changes to the Draft Annual Business Plan & Budget will be reported in the final document and published on our website. Copies of the Draft 2023-24 Annual Business Plan & Budget will be available from the Council Office upon request during the Community Consultation period.

Copies of the Final 2023-24 Annual Business Plan & Budget will be available after Elected Member adoption, which is planned for late June.