A budget that supports our community

Published on 28 June 2022

Darebin Council’s Budget 2022/23 was adopted at the Council Meeting on 27 June 2022 and is focussed on supporting our community and making the lives of those who live, work and play in Darebin better.

We are funding the delivery of more than 100 essential services from building safety to waste services to home care and more, as well as allocating $66.2 million to build, maintain and enhance our important community infrastructure from road safety improvements, to sporting and community facilities, to drains and footpaths.

We consulted with our community on our draft budget, to find out what was important to them and how it could meet the needs and expectations of our residents.

Darebin Mayor Cr Lina Messina thanked those who gave us their feedback and said the budget had been drafted with the needs of the community in mind.

“Thank you to our community who participated in our budget consultation process.”

“We’ve worked hard to listen to the community and develop a budget that supports our residents and delivers essential services and investment in community assets, whilst maintaining our financial sustainability” Cr Messina said.

Council also acknowledges that it has been a difficult time for residents over the past few years and has adopted a Rates Financial Hardship Policy to assist those ratepayers experiencing financial hardship.

The budget is community focussed, delivering projects and services that are highly valued by residents, businesses and visitors, including:

• Collection of more than 6 million bins, 21,000 tonnes of green waste and 15,000 tonnes of recycling per year.
• Introduction of green organic and food organic waste recycling services for all residential ratepayers (excluding multi-unit dwellings).
• Approximately 20,000 immunisations.
• Four library branches with spaces to work, study, and read, with access to free Wi-Fi, PCs and laptops to help bridge the digital divide.
• Construction of the new Intercultural Centre at the Preston Town Hall.
• Expansion of the funded three-year-old kindergarten program.
• Construction of essential road safety projects.
• A feasibility study for gender inclusive sporting facilities.
• No increase on concession fees for Aged Care, Reservoir Leisure Centre and Animal Control services.
• An extensive event program to support literacy and community learning, celebrate cultural diversity, engage our community and reduce social isolation.
• Construction of the Northcote Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
• Preparatory and design work for future major projects including the Reservoir Leisure Centre.
• Improvements to accessibility arrangements for people living with a disability.
• Approximately 130,000 hours of aged care services, programs and assistance.
• Planting of 1,200 trees and 100,000 indigenous plants in bushland and parkland.
• Animal registrations for around 17,000 pets.
• Maintenance of more than 56 sporting ovals and fields.
• Maintenance of more than 30km of shared bike paths.
• Support for the installation of 300 solar systems to residential homes.
• Direct employment of over 1000 creative professionals enabling a diverse range of performances, exhibitions, shows, festivals and events, reaching 300,000 plus audiences in venues, in the public realm and online.

Read the 2022/23 Budget