Regardless of COVID, City of Newcastle 2020-21 budget…

Regardless of COVID, City of Newcastle 2020-21 budget lacks detail on major cost and spending items

The cover of the new budget adopted on Tuesday night by City of Newcastle.

GIVEN the economic impact of COVID-19, it is no surprise that the City of Newcastle's adopted 2020-21 budget differs substantially from the draft put on display in late March.

Back then, the council was projecting a 2020-21 surplus of $3.1 million, with a capital works program of $83 million.

Now, the capital works program is valued at $116.3 million, and the bottom line an expected deficit of $22.7 million.

READ OUR NEWS REPORT BY MICHAEL PARRIS HERE

The conservative non-Labor councillors have repeatedly criticised the financial decision-making of the ALP-dominated council.

Regardless of any points that are made, the first reaction of the Labor team led by Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes is to dismiss what's raised as political grandstanding

Without endorsing the conservatives' viewpoint - or contesting the detail of the council's financial commitments - a few general observations can be made about recent budgets and related financial statements prepared by council officers under chief executive Jeremy Bath, and subsequently adopted by the present council.

By any reading of recent council history, two issues stand out as controversies.

The first is Supercars.

The second is the administration shift from Civic to Newcastle West, unveiled in December 2017.

Yet the word "Supercars" does not appear anywhere in the budget.

Nor does there appear to have been a detailed account of the costs involved in moving to the new rented premises on Stewart Avenue.

Given the limited information it has made public on both matters, it is difficult to see how the council can claim to be "an organisation of excellence" using "accountability, transparency and good governance" to provide "meaningful information" about its performance, as it did in its most recent annual report.

Last night's council meeting also received the latest executive monthly performance report, for May, the second-last month of the financial year.

The council no longer publishes a 12^th and final report each year, but denied any cover-up when Independent John Church raised the issue two years ago.

Critics say the full picture does not appear until October, when the annual financial statements are published.

These, however, can show significant differences between the budget figures and their audited annual counterparts.

Glossy presentations might look media savvy, but it's the detailed columns of reliable figures that engender trust.

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