Budget & finances
Comparing raw dollar totals between councils isn't very useful — bigger councils naturally have bigger numbers. What does tell you about a council's financial health are normalised indicators: the standard ratios that every NSW council reports against the Office of Local Government's benchmarks, plus per-property figures you can compare to the NSW average. The ratios below are from the NSW Government's 'Your Council' / OLG time-series data for 2023–24.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- Operating performance ratio
- Whether everyday income covers everyday running costs.
- Own-source operating revenue ratio
- How much of the council's income it raises itself vs. grants from other governments.
- Unrestricted current ratio
- Whether the council has enough spare cash to pay its short-term bills.
- Debt service cover ratio
- How comfortably operating cash covers the council's loan repayments.
- Rates & annual charges outstanding ratio
- The share of rates bills that haven't been paid by year-end.
- Cash expense cover ratio
- How many months the council could keep paying bills if income stopped.
- Infrastructure backlog ratio
- The cost of fixing run-down assets, as a share of what those assets are worth.
- Asset maintenance ratio
- Whether the council actually spends what it should on maintaining its assets.
- Building & infrastructure renewals ratio
- Whether assets are being renewed as fast as they wear out.
- Operating result (surplus / deficit)
- Income minus expenses for the year's normal operations.
- OLG benchmark
- The healthy target set by the state for each financial ratio.
- Average residential rate
- The typical yearly general-rates bill for a home in the area.
- Office of Local Government (OLG)
- The NSW body overseeing councils; publishes the financial data.
- $1,370 / yearAbout 14% above the NSW council average of ~$1,203. In 2023–24 it was $1,127 — the rise reflects an IPART-approved special rate variation (see the Rates & fees section). A separate domestic waste charge (~$365) applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Operating deficit — performance ratio −4.5%Below the >0% benchmark: day-to-day operating expenses exceeded operating income this year.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 2.53×, 22.1 months cash, debt service cover 6.58× (all pass)Liquidity, cash cover and debt-servicing capacity are all comfortably above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 5.9% (misses); maintenance 45.0% (misses, notably low); renewals 64.5% (misses)All three infrastructure ratios sit below benchmark; the asset-maintenance ratio of 45.0% is well under the 100% mark, meaning maintenance spend was below the estimated required amount this year.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 64.9% (passes)Above the >60% benchmark.
- Domestic waste charge (2024–25)
- $365 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service (2023–24: $361).
| Indicator (2023–24) | Goulburn Mulwaree | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −4.5% | > 0% | No | |
| 64.9% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 2.53× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 6.58× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 3.3% | < 10% | Yes | |
| 22.1 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 5.9% | < 2% | No | |
| 45.0% | > 100% | No | |
| 64.5% | > 100% | No |
Goulburn Mulwaree's financial-health indicators, 2023–24, against the NSW Office of Local Government benchmarks. 'Meets?' simply states whether the figure is on the benchmark side of the line. Source: NSW Government 'Your Council' / OLG time-series data, 2023–24.
These ratios are the standard, size-independent way to read a council's finances, which is why we use them instead of raw dollar totals. Goulburn Mulwaree met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. The stand-out misses are the operating result (a −4.5% deficit) and the asset-maintenance ratio (45.0%, well below the 100% benchmark), alongside an infrastructure backlog of 5.9% and a renewals ratio of 64.5%. (The OLG classifies Goulburn Mulwaree as a Group 4 regional town/city council, so it is benchmarked at under 10% for rates outstanding; metropolitan councils are benchmarked at under 5%.) The OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows the infrastructure ratios moving: backlog 4.1%, maintenance 50.7%, renewals 61.4%. We present the numbers and their benchmarks; whether that's good value is for you to judge from the sources below.
Sources — check it yourself
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.