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Victoria's 79 council's collectively spend around $7.6 billion
on capital works and recurrent services each year, and manage over
$60 billion in community assets and infrastructure.
This audit examined a representative selection of councils
to determine whether they had effectively integrated their planning
and budgeting, considered the long-term sustainability of selected
investments and produced accurate and reliable budgets and
forecasts.
While Glen Eira generally manages its planning and budgeting
well, considerable improvement is still required by Whittlesea,
South Gippsland and Hepburn. The quality of the strategic,
financial and asset management plans at these three councils is
poor. Objectives, strategies and actions were not clearly specified
nor linked to useful performance indicators. Community input into
the development of council plans was limited, and these plans,
including shorter-term operational plans, are not underpinned by
rigorous service and asset management strategies. Consequently, the
plans are not sufficiently integrated and do not align well with
their annual budgets. Further these councils could not demonstrate
that all of their investment decisions were sound, that their
services were appropriately targeted, or that they were effective
and efficient in meeting community needs.
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