Budget & finances — Shoalhaven City Council

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.

See the full explainer, with formulas →

: $1,429 / yearAbout 25% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140. A separate domestic waste charge (~$522) applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
: Operating deficit — performance ratio −9.1%The council reports a financial turnaround underway: General Fund debt roughly halved and the operating deficit forecast to fall from about $35.2M (2024) toward $6M by 2027.
Liquidity: Tight — unrestricted current ratio 1.08×Below the OLG benchmark of >1.5×, though cash cover (7.2 months) is well above the >3-month benchmark.
Infrastructure: Backlog 4.5%, renewals 71.3%Both outside the OLG benchmarks (<2% backlog, >100% renewals) — pointing to asset-renewal spending below the benchmark that year.
Domestic waste charge (2023–24): $522 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service.

Shoalhaven		Meets?
−9.1%	> 0%	No
66.5%	> 60%	Yes
1.08×	> 1.5×	No
2.69×	> 2×	Yes
8.0%	< 10%	Yes
7.2 months	> 3 months	Yes
4.5%	< 2%	No
104.7%	> 100%	Yes
71.3%	> 100%	No

Shoalhaven'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. Shoalhaven met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. The four it didn't — operating performance, unrestricted current ratio, infrastructure backlog and renewals — point to a tight operating position and asset-renewal spending below the benchmark that year, which the council says it is addressing. 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.