Inner West Council REPORTING - KPIs and Metrics

On Tonight's agenda is a 6 monthly report for Jul-Dec 2021(9. Six monthly progress report) and Quarterly Budget review for Sep-Dec 2021 (5. 2021/22 Second Quarter Budget Review)

 

The six month report includes "statistics" or KPIs for the Community Strategic Plan(CSP) - these are the measures we use to check whether we are getting to our long term goals for 2036.

 

The CSP is being reviewed and a new 4 year delivery plan and budget will be adopted in June.

 

Numerous capital projects have been deferred

 

Also on the Agenda is 7. Dawn Fraser Baths - Internal Audit Report which showed shortcomings in Project Governance. 

 

 

It is also worth noting that at the LGNSW conference last week.

 

X4 Byron Shire Council Template governance tools That Local Government NSW advocates to the NSW Government that it works with councils and funds the development of template governance tools to enhance transparency and performance reporting including:

 

a) A dashboard summary reporting tool tracking progress against objectives as set out in key planning documents - community strategic plan, financial plan and budget, residential land use and other strategies etc; and
 
b) A consolidated State Government relationship reporting tool tracking all ‘live’ issues and projects between an LGA and State Government across all portfolio areas including grant applications, policy / project proposals, state government- initiated projects etc.

 

Note from Council Council websites include an abundance of plans, reports, and data, which are invaluable for councillors, staff, consultants and other stakeholders. For most residents and rate payers the information provided on performance and progress against objectives could be collated and summarised. The core business of councils is common and a template could provide useful summary data against objectives (targets) on revenue and surpluses, housing approvals, financial ratios, road works, sewerage and water, visitor numbers etc. 

 

The reporting tool would complement existing reports to residents and ratepayers on how rates are spent with a snapshot of how council spends money and performs at a macro level. 

 

The relationship between councils and state government is fundamental to local government. Reporting on that relationship tends to be project based or piecemeal. Local government is a statutory creation of state government and can be seen as an extension of it. 

 

Residents and rate payers are aware of the interaction between state and local government but perhaps not its full depth or significance. Projects, funding decisions and changes to law or policy tend to be reported ‘one-off’.

 

Most residents and rate payers would benefit from receiving an integrated picture of the relationship between their local council and state government.

 

The use of a consolidated reporting tool can also assist decision makers in adopting a more holistic approach to decision-making seeing the ‘cross-portfolio’ connections between issues, for example housing, transport and tourism.

 

Note from LGNSW This motion is operational and LGNSW will seek the NSW Government's support to develop these tools. The Office of Local Government's Your Council website (yourcouncil.nsw.gov.au) already provides key data on councils’ demographic, socio-economic, financial sustainability, infrastructure, expenditure, rating, community leadership and core council services. This website could be further expanded to meet this motion's objectives.

 

Source viewed 8 March 2022 https://lgnsw.org.au/Common/Uploaded%20files/Annual%20Conference%20documents/Special_Conference/2022_Special_Conference-Resolutions.pdf