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' data for 2023–24; the dollar figures are from the council's audited 2024–25 financial statements.
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.
- $1,671 / yearAbout 47% above the NSW council average of ~$1,140 — Wollongong sits in the higher range, similar to other Illawarra councils. A separate domestic waste charge (~$497) applies. (OLG 'Your Council' data.)
- −$10.2M (2024–25), +$41.0M (2023–24)The 2024–25 deficit largely reflects much lower one-off capital grants and contributions ($45.5M vs $100.8M the year before), not a jump in day-to-day spending.
- 2024–25 capital works delivered
- $87.8 millionSpend on roads, buildings, stormwater and open space (audited 2024–25 statements).
- Largest income source (2024–25)
- Rates & annual charges: $247.5M of $390.6M total incomeRates and annual charges are the council's biggest single revenue source.
- Debt
- Low — debt service cover 9.68× (2023–24)Well above the OLG benchmark of >2×; Wollongong is a relatively low-debt council.
| Indicator (2023–24) | Wollongong | Meets? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| −15.4% | > 0% | No | |
| 68.8% | > 60% | Yes | |
| 2.70× | > 1.5× | Yes | |
| 9.68× | > 2× | Yes | |
| 7.2% | < 10% | Yes | |
| 4.2 months | > 3 months | Yes | |
| 7.6% | < 2% | No | |
| 83.5% | > 100% | No | |
| 74.3% | > 100% | No |
Wollongong'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. Wollongong met 5 of the 9 benchmarks in 2023–24. The four it didn't are the operating-performance ratio and the three infrastructure measures (backlog, maintenance and renewals), which together point to asset-renewal and maintenance spending below the benchmark that year. 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.