CORRECTION TO THE LONG TERM FINANCIAL PLAN 2025-35

Find out more about the update to the Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP). At the April 2026 Council Meeting, Council was advised of an error identified in the Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) relating to the incorrect projection of grant income for operating purposes from 2026/27 financial year onwards, and endorsement was sought for the corrected financial projections.

This report describes changes to the financial position of Council outlined in the 2025/26 - 2035/36 Long Term Financial Plan.

Council’s Operating Result before Grants and Contributions provided for capital purposes has declined by an average of $3.2M over the planning horizon.

Background

The key underlying assumptions on which the Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP) is based, and the projected income and expenditure, balance sheet and cash flow statement contained in the Long-Term Financial Plan, must be reviewed and updated at least annually as part of the development of the Operational Plan. During Council’s review of the LTFP in preparation of the 26/27 Operational Plan and associated budget for 26/27, an error was identified in the grants income assumptions.

Grants totalling $4.9 million were incorrectly carried forward into 2026/27 and subsequent years of the LTFP, resulting in an overstatement of projected income.

Discussion

The Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP) is a 10-year rolling plan that informs decision-making and demonstrates how the objectives of the Community Strategic Plan (CSP) and commitments of the Delivery Program (DP) and Operating Plan (OP) will be resourced and funded. The LTFP captures financial implications of asset management and workforce planning. For example, by identifying how additional assets will be funded, or existing assets renewed or upgraded and what provisions are made for changes to service levels.

The LTFP adopted as part of the 24/25 Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) suite of documents estimated the value of the income from ‘Grants and Contributions for Operating Purposes’ as $11.1M for the 25/26 FY. During the process of development of the 2025/26 - 2034/35 LTFP there was particular focus placed on the value of the “Grants and Contributions for Capital Purposes” given the large grants associated with the Water Treatment plant upgrade and other Infrastructure projects.

The detail sitting behind the Operating Grants value was not as heavily analysed. The value Reports to Council – Page 61 of 97 Ordinary Council Meeting 23 April 2026 estimated for 2025/26 was in line with the approved 2025/26 budget and indexed over the forward years. This resulted in two grants being included resulting in the forward income projections, from 2026-27, being overstated by around $4.9M.

They include:

• $1.3 M Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund (RERRF) Grant. This was a one-off Grant, where Grant funds were received during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years and recognised as income in those years with work occurring in subsequent years.
• $3.6M DRFA (Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement) Grant. This funding is scheduled to conclude in the 2025/26 financial year.

The 2024/25 – 2034/35 LTFP assumptions carried income of these non-recurring grants to the outer years, misstating the value of the grants income, in-turn impacted the projected financial position of Council from 2026/27 onwards.

The 2024/25 – 2034/35 LTFP originally showed a recurring deficit of approximately $10M. Inclusion of these grants and their associated expenses in error disguising a higher projected average deficit of $12.7M from 2026/27 onwards. The 2025/26 – 2035/36 LTFP originally showed a recurring deficit of approximately $5.5M. Inclusion of these grants and their associated expenses in error disguising a higher projected average deficit of $8.7M from 2026/27 onwards.

The revised 2025/26 – 2034/35 LTFP aims to rectify the error in projected income and associated expenses, adjusting the compounding effect on the forward years.

This document includes the application of Council resolutions relating to:

1. the cessation of Crago Mill Stage 2

2. the implementation of the Financial Sustainability Roadmap, and

3. the impacts of the error related to grant income and expenses.

These changes show the average deficit across the outer years approximately $5.3M per year and no change to the projected negative unrestricted cash value identified in 27/28. This is an overall improvement of an average $7.4M from the restated 2024/25 – 2033/34 LTFP model. Further refinement of the LTFP will occur during the development of the 26/27-35/36 LTFP.

Further details about this report are available in the 23 April 2026 Council Meeting Agenda papers:

What Next?

This draft policy was endorsed at the 23 April 2026 Council Meeting to be placed on Public Consultation for a period of no less than 28 days and now provides an opportunity for members of the community to provide their feedback.

1. Have a read - Please have a read of the above proposal. Please take the time to understand what it is in document and what it means for you and the local community.
2. Ask a question - If you have any queries or need clarification, please use our 'questions tool' below.
3. Complete the below feedback form - if you have any comments, please leave your feedback below. Your feedback is important as it will inform Council's final decision on this strategy.
4. Other ways to provide feedback: You can also make a submission by email to Council@yass.nsw.gov.au or by writing to Public Consultations, Yass Valley Council, 209 Comur Street, Yass, NSW, 2582.

Any person may make a written submission to Council on the draft document until 5pm, 29 May 2026.

In accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, Council will redact any names, email addresses, contact numbers and residential addresses from all submissions received prior to inclusion in the future report to Council.

Thank you for taking the time to share your views.