Council
28 September, 2026
Wollondilly in line for a massive windfall
Wollondilly Shire Council is set to receive a massive windfall under proposed changes to the way Commonwealth Financial Assistance Grants are distributed to councils across the state – but it’s not entirely happy.
Wollondilly Shire Council is set to receive a massive windfall under proposed changes to the way Commonwealth Financial Assistance Grants are distributed to councils across the state – but it’s not entirely happy.
Under a review currently being undertaken by the NSW Local Government Grants Commission, Wollondilly’s allocation from the funding pool will increase from approximately $4.99 million to $12.23 million – an increase of approximately $7.24 million per annum.
It is in stark contrast to other councils in the region including Wingecarribee Shire Council who could lose approximately $2.7 million a year and Upper Lachlan Shire Council who could lose approximately $4 million a year.
The changes being proposed by the NSW Local Government Grants Commission are designed to help small rural and regional councils facing large infrastructure gaps.
The Local Roads Component of the grants is also being revised to favour those councils with vast road lengths but low population densities.
However the size of the overall funding pool is not being increased – so while some councils will benefit, others will be left significantly worse off.
Wollondilly Shire Council moved on Tuesday night to welcome the findings of the review.
It said the new methodology provided a clearer assessment of both the cost of delivering council services and the reasonable capacity of a council to raise revenue.
However Wollondilly does not want to see other councils suffer and moved on the motion of Mayor Matt Gould that council “reaffirms its support for continued sector advocacy that no council in need should be worse off under this scheme”.
Instead it wants to see an increased funding pool to recognise the “increasing financial and infrastructure pressures faced by local government”.
It will support “appropriate consideration being given to transitional arrangements for councils materially adversely affected by changes to the methodology, while preserving the objective of moving towards a fairer distribution based on relative financial need.
“The broader issue remains the adequacy of the Financial Assistance Grants pool itself,” Cr Gould said in a Notice of Motion he tabled at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Local government continues to face increasing costs associated with maintaining infrastructure and delivering the services expected by our communities.
“Council should continue to support sector advocacy for an increased Commonwealth funding commitment rather than relying solely upon distribution of the existing pool,” Cr Gould said.
Speaking to his Mayoral Minute at Tuesday night’s meeting, Cr Gould said it was obvious that Wollondilly had been underfunded under the existing methodology for many years.
He said council’s first priority was to the Wollondilly but he didn’t want to see other councils such as Wingecarribee being left behind.
Deputy mayor Matthew Deeth agreed and said a planned council submission to the NSW Local Government Grants Commission should “scream loud and clear” that the funding pool needs to be increased.
As reported by The Southern Wire, former Wingecarribee Shire mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick has described the possible $2.7 million per annum cut in grant funding as “extraordinarily difficult to justify”.
“Our community should not be forced to carry the consequences of a funding redistribution that fails to properly recognise what it costs to run a regional council like ours,” he said.
Upper Lachlan councillors were told at their September meeting that the $4 million drop in funding would have a significant impact given council’s annual operating budget was only about $33 million.
Staff said it would impact on council’s ability to spend on things such as tourism promotion, administration a library services.
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