The draft Budget 2021–22 shows how we will finance the first year of the four-year Council Plan 2021–25.

In accordance with Section 94(1) of the Local Government Act 2020, a Council must prepare and adopt a Budget for each financial year and the subsequent 3 financial years.

The Council must ensure that the Budget contains financial statements and other information including capital works, human resources and grants. The Budget must contain the amount which the council intends to raise by general rates, municipal charges, service rates and service charges and whether general rates will be raised by the application of a uniform rate, differential rate or limited differential rate.

The Budget must include a description of services, major initiatives and initiatives to be funded for the financial year and how they will contribute to achieving the strategic objectives as specified in the Council Plan.

For the services to be funded in the Budget, the Budget must also include the prescribed indicators of service performance that must be reported against in the performance statement and the prescribed measures relating to those indicators.

The Budget is a statutory requirement and council Council must adopt the Budget by 30 June each year.

A Community Vision is designed to articulate the 10-year aspirations that the community has for the municipality.

City of Melbourne’s Community Vision features a vision statement and narrative, supported by a series of aspiration statements that are drawn from insights that emerged during the community engagement.

The Community Vision also helps to guide the development of the four year Council Plan 2021–25, which includes our Health and Wellbeing Plan. Find out more about the Community Vision consultation.

Our Health and Wellbeing Plan outlines the areas Council will focus on over the next four years to protect, improve and promote public health and wellbeing within the municipality. This is the fourth time Council has chosen to integrate our Health and Wellbeing Plan into the Council Plan. Find out more about the Health and Wellbeing Plan consultation.

The Council Plan defines the Council’s strategic objectives for the next four years, and the priorities and major initiatives it will deliver to achieve those objectives.

It also outlines a set of indicators and targets which measure progress. It is informed by the community’s aspirations as outlined in the Community Vision, as well as Council’s role, responsibilities and financial position.

The Revenue and Rating Plan seeks to identify each source of revenue to be included in the budget and the policy rationale / assumptions that underpin these.

Council provides a number of services and facilities to our community, and in doing so, must collect revenue to cover the cost of providing these services and facilities. Council’s revenue sources include:

• Rates and charges
• Grants from other levels of government
• Statutory fees and fines
• User fees
• Cash and non-cash contributions from other parties (ie developers, community groups)
• Interest from investments

The Economic Development Strategy outlines the significant impacts of COVID-19. It details our immediate recovery and reactivation approach, as well as our proposals for sustained economic prosperity in the medium and long term.

In consultation with government, industry and community, we have identified eight key priorities. We are proposing 41 actions that will drive economic recovery and create conditions for a sustainable and thriving future.