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.
The numbers
- $1,267 / yearAbout 5% above the NSW council average of ~$1,203 (2023–24 was $1,098). A separate domestic waste charge (~$592) applies. (OLG time-series data.)
- Operating deficit — performance ratio −11.5%Below the >0% benchmark, so it misses this measure for the year.
- Not assessable (file shows 0.00×; benchmark > 2×)OLG's time-series shows 0.00× for 2023–24. That can't be a real reading of this ratio — a council with no loan repayments has no finite ratio (its audited statements print ∞), so we don't count it as met or missed. The council's audited financial statements have the actual position.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 5.13× (passes); 14.9 months cash (passes)Liquidity and cash cover are both comfortably above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 10.3% (misses); maintenance 106.8% (passes); renewals 110.2% (passes)The infrastructure-backlog ratio is above the <2% benchmark; the OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows backlog easing to 7.9%.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 65.1% (passes)Above the >60% benchmark.
- Domestic waste charge (2024–25)
- $592 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service (2023–24 was $554).
| Indicator (2023–24) | Strathfield | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −11.5% | > 0% | No | |
| 65.1% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 5.13× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| Not assessable (file shows 0.00×) | > 2× | n/a | |
| 6.3% | < 5% | No | |
| 14.9 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 10.3% | < 2% | No | |
| 106.8% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 110.2% | > 100% | Yes |
Strathfield'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. Strathfield met 5 of the 8 benchmarks that can be assessed for 2023–24. It reported an operating deficit (−11.5%) that year; its debt-service-cover ratio shows as 0.00× in the OLG file, which can't be a real reading of that ratio, so it is left out of the count — the annual report has the detail on borrowings. The OLG classifies Strathfield as a metropolitan (Group 2) council, so it is benchmarked at under 5% for rates outstanding (6.3% this year). The OLG's 2024–25 time-series shows some infrastructure ratios moving: backlog 7.9%, maintenance 106.2%, renewals 83.9%. 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.