Draft budget needs more information

June 1 2009, 3:10pm

It is difficult to make informed comment on Mount Gambier City Council's draft budget.The council must be among the few in Australia that releases a draft budget for consultation, this late in the year, without including revenue projections.In simple terms, when it comes to public interest in a government budget, people want to know how much tax they'll be paying and what they'll get for their money.Mount Gambier City Council's policy, which isn't new, complicates the process unnecessarily.The draft budget doesn't tell us how much our rates will go up, or what the key projects will be in the next financial year.To look at this from a sympathetic viewpoint, Council might genuinely be asking the community to help prioritise projects for 2009-10 and might be seeking feedback on how much extra rates people are prepared to pay.In that case, Council should release models showing how much rates need to rise to fund particular "wishlist" items.The more traditional budget process for most councils is to release a complete document that includes preferred projects and a figure for rates to rise, invite feedback, and modify the budget based on public input.As it stands, City Council should not have to increase rates significantly thanks to rising valuations.The Value General last week revealed a 9.5pc rise in the city's total capital value.On the matter of the wishlist items council should fund, it's hard for anyone to comment without knowing their impact on rates, which the draft budget fails to reveal.