What the council is working on
Recent deliveries, what's underway now, and what's planned next — drawn from the council's own plans, budgets and project pages. We report what the council has publicly said it's doing; every item links to its source.
The council's stated direction
Council's direction is set out in its Community Strategic Plan 2025–2035 (endorsed 24 June 2025) and a Delivery Program 2026–2030 with an annual Operational Plan and budget, adopted at the June 2026 ordinary meeting. Running through all of it is the demerger: the NSW Government approved splitting the council back into Cootamundra and Gundagai councils, and the transition is now the dominant program of work.
The council manages local roads, water and sewer, waste, parks, libraries, pools, saleyards and planning across a large, sparsely populated South West Slopes LGA — 710 km of sealed roads, 606 km of unsealed roads, 119 bridges and major culverts and around $931 million of assets, for about 11,400 people. Its Community Strategic Plan is built around five key focus areas and eighteen ten-year objectives, and the Delivery Program is the elected council's statement of commitment for its term.
The council reported an operating deficit in 2023–24 (performance ratio −6.7%) on a rate base well below the NSW average, even after a 53.5% cumulative special rate variation approved by IPART from 2021–22. Financial sustainability is the condition the NSW Government has attached to the demerger, and in March 2026 the Demerger Transition Committee resolved to commission a refreshed Financial Sustainability Plan — with separate long-term financial plans and draft revenue policies for each successor council — for completion in late 2026.
Underway now
Demerger into separate Cootamundra and Gundagai councils
Approved Jul 2025; target for both new councils to operate from 1 July 2027After a Local Government Boundaries Commission public inquiry, Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig announced on 17 July 2025 that the demerger of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council would proceed, re-establishing the former Cootamundra and Gundagai councils. Council has since formed a councillor Demerger Transition Committee, appointed an independent Transition Manager (Peter Bascomb, announced 2 December 2025), and established an independent Demerger Transition Disputes Resolution Panel (members announced 29 April 2026). The committee has agreed that two General Managers-Designate need to be in place by April 2027, with recruitment beginning in August 2026. The legal proclamation that creates the two councils was being drafted as at March 2026 and is expected to take around six months once all documentation is with the Office of Local Government.
Source: CGRC media release — A Significant Day for the Demerger Process
Refreshed Financial Sustainability Plan for both successor councils
Resolved 10 March 2026; work to be completed by November 2026A Financial Sustainability Plan prepared in 2024 and updated in 2025 informed council's submission to the Boundaries Commission inquiry. With conditions shifting across the sector, the Demerger Transition Committee resolved on 10 March 2026 to engage a specialist contractor to refresh it — reviewing rates, fees and charges, service delivery, capital works and asset management, and governance — and to prepare separate long-term financial plans and draft revenue policies for each successor council, plus a public-facing summary of findings.
Source: CGRC media release — Demerger Committee moves to secure future of successor councils
Recently delivered
Delivery Program 2026–2030 and Operational Plan 2026–2027 adopted
Presented 28 April 2026, exhibited 29 April – 26 May 2026, adopted June 2026Council formally adopted its 2026–2030 Delivery Program, the updated 2026/27 to 2029/30 operating budget, a revised Long Term Financial Plan and the 2026/2027 Operational Plan at its June 2026 ordinary meeting, after a four-week public exhibition. Named focus areas are infrastructure delivery and maintenance, community services, financial sustainability and organisational efficiency. At the same meeting councillors unanimously supported a motion from Cr Kelly to reduce Cootamundra Town Hall hire fees by 50 per cent to encourage community use.
Source: CGRC media release — Long-term vision locked in with adoption of key council plans