The latest report card on the performance and characteristics of NSW councils is available to the public and will prove crucial to future reform and modernisation of the local government sector, NSW Local Government Minister Don Page said.

The Comparative Information on NSW Local Government Councils 2009-2010 report shows how diverse the State’s 152 councils are – vast with few residents, small with dense populations, and with many different rate structures, resources and services to deliver – confirming that any reforms to the local government sector will require careful planning and not a `one size fits all’ approach.

The Comparative Information report is a Census-type publication collated to provide ratepayers with a transparent assessment of councils across a broad range of areas including rates charged, services provided, debt and asset management, boundary size, population and demographic, and socioeconomic factors.

“The report shows that the councils of NSW differ greatly in terms of size, population and demographic, confirming the message from the Destination 2036 conference last month – that the necessary reform within the local government sector will require hard work and several flexible plans and models,” Mr Page said.

“Modernising local government so that it can meet future challenges will not be solved with a one size fits all approach – it will first require an understanding of the characteristics of our councils, so this sort of information will be crucial to that process.

“The information in this report enables people and communities to see whether their council is performing up to expectation, by comparing it to councils of similar size, scale and population.

“This is the 20th such report and the data is always changing, mirroring the changing nature of NSW and, as Minister, I feel it is important that ratepayers should have the latest information.

“This enhanced transparency and public accountability helps to establish performance benchmarks and industry-best practice models in the local government sector.”

Councils are grouped with those of similar characteristic, starting with urban or rural, and their populations.

Urban councils are either `capital city’, `metropolitan developed’, `regional town/city’, or `fringe’, and rural councils are divided into `significant growth’, `agricultural’, or `remote’.

Rates information is listed, detailing how much money councils charge and yield from residential, business and farmland rates.

Across NSW, about $2.06 billion was raised from residential rates, $782 million from business rates, and about $220 million from farmland rates.

The average rates for residential properties in NSW was $786 per household.

Hunters Hills Council had the highest average residential rates per household ($1233) and Brewarrina Shire Council had the lowest ($95).

Blacktown City Council had the largest population (299,700 people) and Urana Shire Council had the smallest (1269).

The largest council area is Central Darling Shire Council (53,509sq km), while the smallest is Hunters Hill Council (6sq km).

The fastest growing populations in NSW are in Palerang Council and Auburn Council (both growing at 3.7 per cent), according to the report.

Other information published in the Comparative Information report includes:

- increases or decreases in council rates from the previous year
- uncollected rates and the effectiveness of councils’ debt recovery
- the expenditure patterns of councils, such as employee costs like wages and leave, materials and contracts (gravel for roads, stationery, and legal and audit fees), borrowing costs, councillor fees, phone and power bills, and donations
- the level of councils’ liquidity and their ability to satisfy their financial obligations when they are due
- the rate at which assets are renewed against the rate at which they depreciate
- staffing numbers and staff’s areas of expertise
- the amount spent on environmental management and health activities per capita
- the amount spent on recreation and leisure services per capita
- community halls and centres for aged care and child care, youths, people with a disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, cultural facilities, and multicultural groups.

“It is important to remember that the key performance indicators published in the Comparative Information report, when they are used on their own, do not give the full picture of a council’s performance,” Mr Page said.

“Although the information may show the differences between councils across a selection of specific activities, they do not explain why these differences have arisen.

“The figures are indicators only and conclusions should not be drawn without qualitative assessments being made. “If anyone wants further details or explanations, they can contact their council.”

The full report is on the Division of Local Government website: www.dlg.nsw.gov.au

To view the list of councils, click here.