Hepburn Shire (VIC) Council budget and finances

Budget & finances

Every Victorian council reports the same set of financial measures to the state each year, under the Local Government Performance Reporting Framework (LGPRF). The state doesn't set pass marks for these measures. So we show Hepburn's figure for 2024–25 next to the median of all Victorian councils. The median is the middle value: half of councils are above it and half below. The median is a point of reference, not a target.

New to these terms? Read them in plain English

Operating result (surplus / deficit): Income minus expenses for the year's normal operations.
Average residential rate: The typical yearly general-rates bill for a home in the area.

See the full explainer, with formulas →

The numbers

Average rate per property (2024–25): $1,748General rates divided by all property assessments (homes, farms, businesses and vacant land). The Victorian median is $1,937.
Adjusted underlying result (2024–25): 6.1% deficitThe operating result without capital grants and contributions, as a share of that revenue. The Victorian median is a 0.56% surplus.
Loans and borrowings (2024–25): 50.7% of ratesThe Victorian median is 13.2%. The 2026–27 budget takes out no new borrowings and repays about $2.0 million of existing loans (budget cash flow statement).
2026–27 budget: $10.5 million of capital worksIncluding $4.83 million for roads, with $2.8 million from grants and contributions and no new borrowings. The council says the budget provides for an underlying operating deficit of $679,000, which it attributes to large increases in depreciation in recent years, and that it prioritises renewing existing assets and finishing current projects over new assets.Budget announcement →
Financial position (September 2026): Reports to every council meeting for the next six monthsAt its 22 September 2026 meeting the council received reports on its financial position, unpaid rates and an independent expert review of its Long-Term Financial Plan; a second phase of the review is due in November. The Mayor said about 1,000 of the council's roughly 8,000 residential ratepayers have overdue rates and about 200 are on payment plans, and that the council remains solvent.Council announcement →

Measure (2024–25)	Hepburn	Victorian median
	-6.1%	0.56%
Current assets ÷ current liabilities (short-term liquidity)	1.73×	2.17×
Unrestricted cash ÷ current liabilities (free cash)	0.41×	0.26×
Loans and borrowings ÷ rates	50.7%	13.2%
Loan repayments ÷ rates	5.6%	1.4%
Non-current liabilities ÷ own-source revenue	42.4%	16.7%
Asset renewal and upgrade ÷ depreciation	78.8%	94.9%
Rates ÷ adjusted underlying revenue (reliance on rates)	63.4%	57.8%
Rates ÷ property values	0.28%	0.28%
Expenses per property assessment	$3,799	$4,100
Average rate per property assessment	$1,748	$1,937

Hepburn Shire Council, LGPRF financial measures, 2024–25, next to the median of the 79 Victorian councils reporting each measure. Source: Local Government Victoria, LGPRF 2020–2025 Full Council Data Set (Nov 2025 release), CC BY 4.0. The median is CouncilBeacon's own calculation.

The LGPRF has no official benchmarks, and Local Government Victoria says its data shouldn't be used for simplistic league tables. So we don't mark any figure as a pass or a fail, and we don't rank councils. The Victorian median is CouncilBeacon's own calculation, taken across the Victorian councils that report each measure in the 2024–25 data set. A figure above or below the median isn't good or bad in itself. Councils differ in size, assets and services; Hepburn is in the LGPRF's 'Small Shire' group. The 2025–26 figures are due in about November 2026.

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.