List of frequently asked questions

The Annual Business Plan is one of our suite of Strategic Management Plans. Our Annual Business Plan is our roadmap for the financial year ahead. It contains our commitment to deliver great outcomes for our community and sets out our priorities and the associated costs and budget for delivery. We are required to produce an Annual Plan under Chapter 8 Part 2 of the Local Government Act. The plan must include, among other things, our objectives and the activities we will undertake to achieve those objectives, as well as our rate structure and policy. We are also required to conduct public consultation on the draft Annual Business Plan before it can be adopted.

The document contains a summary of the information we have received from our community through engagement with them. It outlines the external opportunities and challenges in the broader environment and lists new major project priorities for 2023-24. There is also detailed financial information about how we will use our funds to complete this work and ensure financial accountability.

Visit our engagement site Participate PAE at participate.cityofpae.sa.gov.au (this site) to complete a short survey about the draft business plan. You can also come to the Meeting of Council on Tuesday 9 May 2023 commencing at 7 pm at the Town Hall on 34 Nile Street, Port Adelaide where members of the public can attend as an interested observer or present a submission about the draft plan to Council. If you would like to make a representation at the meeting and speak to Council, please contact (08) 8405 6600.

The proposed projects and priorities are primarily based on our existing strategic management plans which have all gone through robust research and community engagement and have been endorsed by Council. We also consider all the feedback we regularly receive from engagement activities, community forums, perception surveys, the data we hold and our day-to-day contact with residents, businesses, groups, clubs, government and visitors.

The draft plan funds economic development activities which include business advisory services, investment attraction, tourism support and growing the visitor economy. We work regionally with business and industry leaders and state and federal governments to attract and support investment within in our city. Our capital works program provide infrastructure to support the economy and our events and programs attract visitors into our city.

Our placemaking approach helps us to ensure strong community, economic and environmental benefits are derived from our places and spaces. This year, we will deliver the second Dockside Festival, with a program that will have something for everyone in our community. We will also provide grants and sponsorship for arts, culture and activation to foster diversity and inclusion in the arts.

Regardless of where you live in the City of PAE, you’ll see us out and about maintaining and upgrading facilities, streets and parks. Taking care of our city is part of our core business. But this year, you will also see us delivering some major streetscape projects in Port Adelaide and Queenstown as well as improvement to clubrooms in various reserves across Council.

We are committed to reducing our 2021 corporate greenhouse gas emissions — to begin with by at least 30% by 2025 and then by at least 60% by 2030. This program will include purchasing renewable energy, improving energy and water efficiencies, and switching to low emission alternatives to reduce our carbon footprint.

This year we will develop Heritage Conservation Management Plans, that will provide direction and action plans for the work we will do in the future to conserve, reuse and develop the heritage buildings that we own and maintain on behalf of our community

Just some of our ongoing services include:

• Providing safe roads and footpaths
• Creating and maintaining spaces for people to enjoy, such as sporting grounds, open space, trees, gardens and playgrounds
• Ensuring stormwater management keeps homes and businesses safe
• Providing services required by legislation, such as food and environmental health, planning and building (development) opportunities and community safety services
• Waste management and recycling services
• Delivering services to the community to connect people, create learning opportunities and make life easier or more enjoyable

Council’s main source of income is rate revenue, representing 87% of Council’s total revenue. Other sources include government grants, reimbursements, user and statutory charges.

An average rate increase in line with the change in Adelaide CPI for the year to December 2022 (or approximately $1.86 per week for the average household) will enable us to carry out our proposed work and achieve our project goals. The proposed rate increase is 8.6%.

In addition, we expect the number of rateable properties in the Council area to grow by approximately 1.0%. The actual rates payable by a rate payer will vary according to individual property valuations, the attributed land use, and whether there has been any new development or capital improvement on the land.

The handy Rates at Work tool enables you to see how every $100 of your rates payment is spent. Or, you can enter the exact amount shown on your rates notice to see how payment will be distributed across the service types. You can also toggle the display to show the actual amounts we spent on these services during the previous financial year. Visit https://www2.cityofpae.sa.gov.au/registers/rates-at-work to see your rates at work.

Any feedback provided as part of the Annual Business Plan consultation process is collated and reported back to Council to present a clear understanding of the issues and topics that are most pertinent to residents. If we need to make an amendment to what has been proposed, this will be done by a Council decision.