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. The OLG classifies Snowy Valleys as a 'Large Rural' council, so its rates-outstanding ratio is benchmarked at under 10% (metropolitan councils are held to under 5%).
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.
- $904 / yearRose to $945 in 2024–25. About 21% below the NSW council average (~$1,140 in 2023–24, ~$1,203 in 2024–25). A separate domestic waste charge applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Operating surplus — performance ratio +6.7%Above the >0% benchmark.
- Liquidity & cash
- Strong liquidity (3.33×), 11.9 months cash; debt service cover 16.55× (passes)Unrestricted current ratio, cash cover and debt service cover all comfortably above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 0.2% (passes); maintenance 100.0% (just misses); renewals not meaningfully reported for 2023–24The building & infrastructure renewals figure is a reporting gap for 2023–24; the 2024–25 renewals ratio is 96.1% (below the >100% benchmark). The 2024–25 backlog figure is 0.0%.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 59.8% (just misses)Just under the >60% benchmark — meaning the council relies a little more on grants and contributions than the benchmark.
- Average domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $531 / yearRose to $555 in 2024–25. A separate annual charge that funds the bin service.
| Indicator (2023–24) | Snowy Valleys | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.7% | > 0% | Yes | |
| 59.8% | > 60% | No | |
| 3.33× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 16.55× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 5.6% | < 10% | Yes | |
| 11.9 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 0.2% | < 2% | Yes | |
| 100.0% | > 100% | No | |
| Not meaningfully reported (2023–24); 96.1% (2024–25) | > 100% | No |
Snowy Valleys 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. Snowy Valleys met 6 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. Two of the misses are marginal: own-source revenue at 59.8% (against a >60% benchmark) and asset maintenance at exactly 100.0% (against a >100% benchmark). The third — building & infrastructure renewals — is not meaningfully reported for 2023–24 (a data gap, not a genuine 0%); the OLG's 2024–25 time-series records that ratio at 96.1%, just below the >100% benchmark, with asset maintenance again at 100.0% and infrastructure backlog at 0.0%. 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.