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.
- $1,482 / yearAbout 30% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140. A separate domestic waste charge (~$474) applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Slight operating deficit — performance ratio −1.9%Just below the >0% benchmark.
- Liquidity & cash
- Very strong — unrestricted current ratio 4.09×, ~12 months cashWell above the OLG benchmarks; debt service cover 13.4× and own-source revenue 84.9% are also strong.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 0.8% (passes); renewals 80.8% (below benchmark)Low repair backlog and asset maintenance above 100%, but renewals below the >100% benchmark that year.
- Domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $474 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service.
| Indicator (2023–24) | Sutherland | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −1.9% | > 0% | No | |
| 84.9% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 4.09× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 13.40× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 4.7% | < 5% | Yes | |
| 12.1 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 0.8% | < 2% | Yes | |
| 117.5% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 80.8% | > 100% | No |
Sutherland Shire'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. Sutherland met 7 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24; the two it didn't are a small operating deficit and a renewals ratio below the benchmark. (As a metropolitan council, Sutherland is benchmarked at under 5% for rates outstanding, rather than the under-10% benchmark that applies to regional and rural councils.) 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.