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.
- $1,228 / yearAbout 8% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140. In 2024–25 it was $1,282 (NSW ~$1,203). A separate domestic waste charge applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Operating deficit — performance ratio −16.6%Well below the >0% benchmark; a large operating deficit is the stand-out miss this year.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 49.6% (misses)Below the >60% benchmark — the council relies more heavily on grants and contributions than the benchmark assumes.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 2.95× (passes), 11.1 months cash (passes), debt service cover 2.68× (passes)Liquidity, cash cover and debt service cover are all above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 6.9% (misses); renewals 68.8% (misses); maintenance 131.3% (passes)The backlog and renewals ratios miss their benchmarks; asset maintenance passes.
- Domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $625 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service; $628 in 2024–25.
| Indicator (2023–24) | Richmond Valley | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −16.6% | > 0% | No | |
| 49.6% | > 60% | No | |
| 2.95× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 2.68× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 9.6% | < 10% | Yes | |
| 11.1 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 6.9% | < 2% | No | |
| 131.3% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 68.8% | > 100% | No |
Richmond Valley 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. Richmond Valley met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. The stand-out misses were a large operating deficit (−16.6% against a >0% benchmark) and own-source revenue (49.6% against >60%) — the council draws a larger share of its income from grants and contributions than the benchmark assumes, in a regional LGA still recovering from the 2022 floods. (The OLG classifies Richmond Valley as a regional town/city council, so it is benchmarked at under 10% for rates outstanding, where it sits just under at 9.6%.) The OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows the infrastructure ratios: backlog 6.1%, maintenance 149.8%, renewals 68.4%. 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.