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 Weddin as a Rural council, so it is benchmarked at under 10% for rates outstanding; 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.
The numbers
- $734 / yearAbout 39% below the NSW council average of ~$1,203 (2023-24 was $679, vs NSW ~$1,140). A separate domestic waste charge (~$365 in 2024-25) applies. An average residential rate reflects land values and the council's rating structure, not the level of service. (OLG time-series data.)
- Operating performance ratio -9.7%Below the >0% benchmark. Council's audited statements for the same year report a net operating result of +$1.072M on total income of $28.302M, and -$1.392M once capital grants and contributions are excluded.
- Liquidity & cash
- Unrestricted current ratio 2.83x, debt service cover 6.14x, 9.4 months cash — all passAll three liquidity and debt measures are on the benchmark side of the line.
- Self-funding
- Own-source revenue 37.9% (misses)Below the >60% benchmark. Council's Long-Term Financial Plan states rates income accounts for 17% of operating expenditure in the 2026/2027 budget, with the balance coming largely from grants.
- Infrastructure
- Backlog 0.6% and asset maintenance 121.7% both pass; buildings & infrastructure renewals 0.0% missesThe 0.0% renewals ratio is not a data gap: the council's audited Report on Infrastructure Assets as at 30 June 2024 records asset renewals of nil against $5.170M of depreciation, and shows the same ratio at 248.43% in 2022-23 and 0.00% in 2021-22. The OLG's 2024-25 file shows renewals back at 100.3%, backlog 0.7% and maintenance 127.0%.
- 12.2%Above the under-10% benchmark that applies to rural councils (the audited statements show 11.99%).
| Indicator (2023-24) | Weddin | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| -9.7% | > 0% | No | |
| 37.9% | > 60% | No | |
| 2.83x | > 1.5x | Yes | |
| 6.14x | > 2x | Yes | |
| 12.2% | < 10% | No | |
| 9.4 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 0.6% | < 2% | Yes | |
| 121.7% | > 100% | Yes | |
| 0.0% | > 100% | No |
Weddin'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. Weddin met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023-24. Council's own audited statements for that year differ slightly from the OLG time-series on four of the measures — operating performance -7.27%, own-source revenue 36.16%, debt service cover 6.76x, cash cover 9.60 months — and both sources are linked below. Weddin is a shire of about 3,608 people responsible for 431 km of sealed and 516 km of unsealed local roads, 11 bridges and more than 1,250 culverts, with transport assets alone carrying a replacement value of over $154.5 million as at 2023/2024. Council publishes its own view of what that means in its Long-Term Financial Plan 2026/2027-2035/2036, which models three scenarios and states that both its Planned and Conservative models are 'not considered sustainable over the long term'; the plan also states that council currently has no plans to collect a special rate variation. We present the numbers, the benchmarks and the council's own documents; whether that's good value is for you to judge from the sources below.
Sources — check it yourself
- Office of Local Government — Time-Series Data 2023-24 (all NSW councils, benchmark ratios) · 2023-24
- Office of Local Government — Time-Series Data 2024-25 (infrastructure ratios update) · 2024-25
- Weddin Shire Council — Audited Financial Statements 2023-24 (incl. Report on Infrastructure Assets, PDF) · 30 Jun 2024
- Weddin Shire Council — Long-Term Financial Plan 2026/2027-2035/2036 (PDF) · Adopted 29 Jun 2026
- Weddin Shire Council — Strategic Asset Management Strategy 2024-2028 (road network and asset values, PDF) · 2024-2028
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.