Recent Council Highlights
In a recent survey widely reported in the media, Kogarah was found to be in the top 25% of LGAs for quality of life. The survey measured ten variables such as access to services, crime rates, encouraging community involvement, housing size and development, earnings and employment levels all of which our strategies and policies have positively influenced.
The end of the financial year is an appropriate time to reflect on just some of the programs that have obviously contributed so positively to Kogarah's overall quality of life over the last year.
As a Council, essentially we see our role as working with our community to continually improve our services wherever possible.
We're committed to ensuring our residents and specifically our children are less likely to be exposed to the risks of second hand, cancer causing smoke. We're the only council in the St George region to have introduced smoke free zones around playgrounds, sportsgrounds and public buildings as part of our Fighting heart disease in Kogarah strategy.
During the year Council endorsed our Library's Strategic Plan 2008-2012 which sets a course that allows the Library to focus its resources and activity on service, access, collections and community connection. The South Hurstville and Oatley libraries were refurbished and now provide new computers, furniture, decor and improved access to the buildings - all of which contributed to the 388,445 library visits, 82,310 computer bookings, 29,354 reference questions answered and 401,434 items loaned.
The focus of Council Childcare services is on providing quality care and programs for families in our area. This year has seen Council significantly extend its commitment in childcare with the opening of Narani Long Day Care Centre in July 2007. The centre caters for 0-6 year olds and has 59 places. Children's Services have also been committed to running educational programs for families in our area on a range of topics such as, nutrition, parenting skills, healthy lifestyles.
This year, we also worked to make sure your interactions with us are as straightforward and simple to gain an outcome as possible. In this regard we've;
- Developed detailed information sheets for our residents on the DA process, clearly defining roles and responsibilities and DA turnaround times have improved as a direct result.
- Our customers, be they businesses, visitors or residents are of the utmost importance to us and we're always looking to improve our service. Over the last year, we've been involved in two mystery 'customer' surveys. One commissioned by us and the other by the Ombudsman. I'm pleased to say, that both returned solid results.0
An important part of keeping our community satisfied is reflecting their concerns regarding the environment and infrastructure. In this respect, Kogarah continues to lead by example when it comes to asset management, water cycle management, environmental and waste management.
Our water cycle management initiatives are already recognised as best practice in NSW Local Government, but during the last year we have taken our achievements to an even higher level with the opening of the Beverley Park Water Reclamation Plant - which culminated in winning a highly prestigious International Water Association Award. We are also one of only several councils in the Sydney region to achieve a 5-Star Water efficiency rating from Sydney Water.
We are very proud of our collection of environmental awards gained over the year and, even more so, of the fact that between our reclamation plant and our other water initiatives, some 300 million litres of drinking water will be saved each year.
With our holistic approach to environmental management - biodiversity and waste management together with emission reduction are also a high priority.
We're in the process of installing solar panels on our Depot roof that will supply around 70% of its electricity needs. In addition to considerable future cost savings, it's also equal to taking more than 21,000 cars off the road every year.
Over the course of this last year, Kogarah has been responsible for the planting of well in excess of 10,000 trees throughout Kogarah and in our country partner town of Cowra. This year's plantings alone will reduce our carbon footprint by about 9000 tonnes each and every year. That's the equivalent to another 3000 cars taken off the road.
Ensuring that the Council organisation remains financially viable sets the foundation that enables Council to deliver our progressive programs, projects and services. To this end the Fiscal Star Report has recently placed Kogarah in the top 20% of sustainable Councils.
Our economic management is second to none. In a year where many are seeing negative returns, the return on our investments exceeded 15% with a dividend well over $450K.
Through our solid financial approach, despite rate pegging at 3.2% and the constant impacts of government cost shifting and provision of additional services, we continue to maintain our infrastructure maintenance and capital works program.
This year has represented tougher economic times. However we've still managed to finish another financial year with a $558,811 budget surplus, which has been reinvested in our asset management program as with previous years. This sustains our asset base for generations to come and ensures Kogarah's better lifestyle continues well into the future.
