5501.2 - Local Government Finance, Victoria, 1999-2000  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/06/2001   
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MEDIA RELEASE

June 28, 2001
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
86/2001

Victoria: What does your council do with your rates?

How does local government in Victoria allocate its funds? The answer to that and other questions can be found in Local Government Finance, Victoria, a publication released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Spending on local roads

As a proportion of total spending, rural councils, on average, spend more than twice that of metropolitan councils on local roads.

In 1999-2000, local government spent $360.6 million (m) on local roads. Almost two-thirds of that amount was spent on maintaining more than 120,000 kilometres of roads.

Details of expenditure by Victorian councils on local roads has been compiled and released in this volume for the first time.

Rates

The Shire of Golden Plains had the lowest average rates in the State of $389 per property, and the Shire of Kingston had the lowest ($500) in the metropolitan area. The City of Melbourne had the highest average rates per property, at $3,133.

Debt

The level of debt redeemed during 1999-2000 was the lowest in the past three years and councils raised $92.4m in new debt.

Overall

In 1999-2000, total revenues amounted to $3,337.7m, increasing by more than 4% over 1998-1999, while total outlays were $3,221.6m for all local government in Victoria.

Outlays for the purpose of recreation and culture by local councils increased by more than 10% to $666.6m and accounted for more than 20% of total outlays.

Further information

Further details can be found in Local Government Finance, Victoria (cat. no. 5501.2) available from ABS bookshops. The main features of the publication are available on this site. If you wish to purchase a coy of this publication contact the ABS Bookshop in your capital city.