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 20% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140. In 2024–25 the average residential rate was $1,487 (NSW ~$1,203), about 24% above the NSW average. A separate domestic waste charge applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Operating deficit — performance ratio −2.1%Below the >0% benchmark (misses).
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 43.3%Below the >60% benchmark (misses) — a larger share of income comes from grants and contributions than the benchmark contemplates.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 1.92× (passes); 19.6 months cash (passes); debt service cover 3.60× (passes)Liquidity, cash cover and debt service cover are all above benchmark.
- 12.2%Above the <10% benchmark that applies to regional councils (misses).
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 8.5% (misses); maintenance 121.8% (passes); renewals 192.2% (passes)Asset maintenance and renewals are above benchmark; the infrastructure backlog ratio is well above the <2% benchmark. (2024–25: backlog 8.7%, maintenance 121.3%, renewals 316.1%.)
- Domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $421 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service. The 2024–25 figure rose to $609 — a large year-on-year increase; confirm the current charge with the council.
| Indicator (2023–24) | Lismore | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −2.1% | > 0% | No | |
| 43.3% | > 60% | No | |
| 1.92× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 3.60× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 12.2% | < 10% | No | |
| 19.6 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 8.5% | < 2% | No | |
| 121.8% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 192.2% | > 100% | Yes |
Lismore City Council'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. Lismore met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24 — the misses were operating performance, own-source revenue, rates outstanding and infrastructure backlog. (The OLG classifies Lismore as a regional town/city council, so it is benchmarked at under 10% for rates outstanding; metropolitan councils are benchmarked at under 5%.) Lismore is a Northern Rivers regional service centre that was severely affected by the February/March 2022 floods, which is relevant context for reading these figures. The OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows the infrastructure ratios moving: backlog 8.7%, maintenance 121.3%, renewals 316.1%. 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.