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.
- $986 / yearAbout 14% below the NSW council average of ~$1,140 (2024–25: North Sydney $1,035 vs NSW ~$1,203). A separate domestic waste charge applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Essentially break-even — performance ratio −0.0%Just below the >0% benchmark, so this ratio misses by a hair.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 2.42× (passes), 11.8 months cash; debt service cover 7.90× (passes)Liquidity, cash cover and debt service cover all comfortably above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 13.3% (misses); renewals 233.4% (passes); maintenance 98.6% (just misses)The infrastructure-backlog ratio is well above the <2% benchmark this year — the council reports a backlog largely in buildings and stormwater assets (see the rates and direction sections).
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 85.4% (passes)Well above the >60% benchmark — the council funds most of its budget from its own revenue rather than grants.
- Average domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $453 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service (2024–25: $474).
| Indicator (2023–24) | North Sydney | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −0.0% | > 0% | No | |
| 85.4% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 2.42× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 7.90× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 3.7% | < 5% | Yes | |
| 11.8 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 13.3% | < 2% | No | |
| 98.6% | > 100% | No | |
| 233.4% | > 100% | Yes |
North Sydney 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. North Sydney met 6 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. The three misses were: a near-break-even operating result (−0.0% against a >0% benchmark); asset maintenance just under the line (98.6% against >100%); and, most notably, an infrastructure backlog of 13.3% against a <2% benchmark. (The OLG classifies North Sydney as a metropolitan council, so it is benchmarked at under 5% for rates outstanding; regional and rural councils are benchmarked at under 10%.) The OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows the infrastructure ratios shifting: backlog 13.9%, maintenance 95.0%, renewals 137.9%. The backlog is central to the council's case for its approved special rate variation (see the rates section). 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.