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.
- $1,201 / yearAbout 5% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140. Rose to $1,254 in 2024–25 (NSW ~$1,203). A separate domestic waste charge (~$424 in 2023–24, ~$446 in 2024–25) applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- Operating deficit — performance ratio −4.6%Below the >0% benchmark (a miss this year).
- Liquidity & cash
- Strong liquidity (4.07×), 21.6 months cash; debt service cover 4.63× (passes)Unrestricted current ratio, cash cover and debt service cover all comfortably above benchmark.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 16.0% (well above the <2% benchmark); renewals 97.1% (misses); maintenance 110.0% (passes)The infrastructure-backlog ratio is notably high; the OLG's 2024–25 data shows it at 14.5%, with renewals 77.9% and maintenance 101.2%.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 66.2% (passes)Above the >60% benchmark.
- Domestic waste charge (2023–24)
- $424 / yearA separate annual charge that funds the bin service (~$446 in 2024–25).
| Indicator (2023–24) | Wagga Wagga | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −4.6% | > 0% | No | |
| 66.2% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 4.07× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 4.63× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 5.3% | < 10% | Yes | |
| 21.6 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 16.0% | < 2% | No | |
| 110.0% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 97.1% | > 100% | No |
Wagga Wagga'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. Wagga Wagga met 6 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24 — the misses were operating performance (an operating deficit), building & infrastructure renewals, and infrastructure backlog, which at 16.0% is well above the <2% benchmark. (The OLG classifies Wagga Wagga as a regional town/city, so it is benchmarked at under 10% for rates outstanding; metropolitan councils are benchmarked at under 5%.) The high infrastructure backlog is relevant context for the council's finances and forward plans, and the council resolved in March 2026 to investigate whether it needs to apply for a Special Rate Variation. 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.