Busselton to keep 2025/26 budget adoption in July after question raised to bring it forward

The City of Busselton will keep its 2025/26 budget adoption around mid to late July following an investigation into the risks and benefits of adopting future budgets at the earliest possible date. After their months long investigation, city staff concluded their report into the idea by saying the benefits of bringing the date forward would be “insignificant” and for one year only. They noted the positives would not outweigh risks such as an increased potential error in expenditure and revenue estimates or community concern around bringing the payment of rates sooner. The report from city staff came after council requested it be looked into following a motion from Cr Andrew Macnish at their July meeting. At the time, Cr Macnish argued it was worth looking into because the earlier rates notices were put out and paid, the more interest the City could make on them. The drawback immediately recognised however was it would mean estimates of the city’s costs and revenue from the previous year would have a greater degree of potential error. At its November meeting, council did not debate the recommendation to keep the timeframe the same next year itself, instead passing the officer recommendation unanimously along with other items without debate.