Business Plan and Budget

The business plan and budget is the key annual operational and financial planning document of the City of Adelaide. It describes what services and projects we plan to provide in the upcoming financial year and how we propose to allocate our budget.

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Summary brochure

The 2024/25 Business Plan and Budget (BP&B) is the key annual operational and financial planning document for the City of Adelaide. It describes the priorities, programs, services and projects that we plan to deliver, our sources of revenue, financial levers, long term sustainability and how we propose to allocate our budget.

It is the second BP&B for this Council and the first to deliver on the Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028 and our new vision for the future.

Our budgeted expenditure of $281.832 million across operating and capital budgets focuses on the prioritisation of community and civic services, activities that support the city’s cultural and economic development, and projects that maintain and upgrade infrastructure within the city and the Adelaide Park Lands.

To drive the delivery of our new Strategic Plan, Council will continue to focus on repairing our budget after historical financial pressures associated with frozen rates and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our ability to renew assets, upgrade infrastructure and provide core community services

For 2024/25 Council is proposing to do this through:

• A focus on delivery of the new Strategic Plan with key projects and infrastructure upgrades
• Understanding what our community expects and delivering core council services
• Delivery of a financially sustainable budget with an equitable approach to income generation, in line with our Long Term Financial Plan
• Delivery of an operating position to meet the ongoing cost requirements of our Asset Management Plans, working towards a target of 100% asset renewals
• A rate increase lower than many in the sector, while re-introducing a rate rebate to support pensioners in our community
• Prioritising our operational budget, grants and sponsorships and where there are opportunities to partner with other levels of Government to seek co-funding.

As the Capital City Council for all South Australians, we play a key role in ensuring that Adelaide continues to be a cultural, civic and economic hub where our residents, students, visitors, workers and businesses can thrive.

To shape this future requires bold thinking, long-term planning and a vision. In December 2023, Council adopted a new Strategic Plan with a long-term vision of:

"Our Adelaide. Bold. Aspirational. Innovative."

The Strategic Plan was developed in a time of change and uncertainty for our city and community – the post pandemic environment, inflation forecasts, housing crisis and climate change resilience are at the top of Council’s agenda.

By acknowledging these important areas of focus and the issues our city and community face, we need to focus our resources over the next four years to deliver bold, aspirational and innovative projects and services.

The Strategic Plan is not only for Council, it is a plan for our ratepayers, residents, visitors, workers and all key stakeholders. To drive the immediate actions that will be delivered to achieve Council’s vision we know we need to be bold in how we respond to the challenges that will unfold over the coming years, and we will create new opportunities that will have a transformative impact on our city, community and businesses.

The 2024/25 Business Plan and Budget commits Council’s resources and budget to delivering Year 1 of the new Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028.

To focus on strategic delivery, five aspirations have been developed:

Our Community: Vibrant, connected and inclusive

Our Environment: Resilient, protected and sustainable

Our Economy: Growing, innovative and responsive

Our Places: Interesting, purposeful and safe

Our Corporation: High performing, customer-centric and bold

Each aspiration has objectives that guide delivery, key actions which tell the community what we’ll do and indicators of success, which will tell us how well we delivered. Across all five aspirations Council has articulated 70 Key Actions to focus on delivering over the next four years.

Consultation on the Draft Strategic Plan occurred across October and November 2023, following several months of internal research, workshops with Council Members and discussions with key stakeholders.

Over 10,000 members of the community interacted in some way with our consultation on the Draft Plan – with almost 100 providing us direct feedback. From online, to in-person, we heard from the community that there is a lot of pride in Adelaide. We heard clearly that climate change and the environment, housing supply and affordability and transport and moving people around the city are all important areas for the future.

Strategic Plan Key Actions to prioritise in 2024/25:

Under the Local Government Act 1999 Council must develop and adopt ‘strategic management plans’ which identify the Council’s objectives, how a Council intends to achieve its objectives, how they fit with the objectives of other levels of government, performance measures and estimates of revenue and expense.

The City of Adelaide is also guided by our suite of Strategic Management Plans:

• Strategic Plan
• Long Term Financial Plan
• Strategic Asset Management Plan (also available as a print version)

The Statement of Amendments provides the City of Adelaide's significant changes, following internal review and public consultation throughout May and June 2023 on the Draft 2023/24 Business Plan and Budget.

For further information or any questions you have in regards to Council’s Business Plan and Budget, please email our team at [email protected] or call us on 8203 7203.