Latest News & Events

Annual Business Plan, Budget, Long Term Financial Plan & Rating Policy

Council is progressing the Annual Business Plan (ABP) / Budget / Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) process.

The draft timetable is as follows:

• Council approved the draft ABP/Budget/LTFP and Rating Policy for Public Consultation at the 11 June 2013 Ordinary Meeting
• Public consultation of the draft ABP/Budget/LTFP will be undertaken for 21 days from 12 June 2013 until Friday 05 July 2013.
• At the July Ordinary Council meeting, Council will consider any submissions on the draft ABP/Budget/LTFP, and make final any amendments to the draft.
• The final ABP /Budget/LTFP will be adopted at the July ordinary council meeting, subject to any changes that may be required.

The staff have formulated the draft ABP/Budget/LTFP based on the Council’s strategic plan and statutory requirements with additional items from Elected Members, community groups and ratepayers included.

The ABP has been reformated this year to extract the Strategic Plan & Rating & Rate Rebate Policy from the main body of the document and added as appendices.

The separate draft Rating and Rate Rebate Policy 2013-14 will undertake separate but concurrent public consultation with ABP/Budget/LTFP.

The draft public consultation documents can be found here.

Pichi Richi Marathon

The Alinta Pichi Richi Marathon 2013 will be held on Sunday 30th June 2013. This event is organised and run by the Rotary Club of Port Augusta as a community project. 

For furtherl details and online entry please visit the Pichi Richi Marathon website: http://www.rotaryportaugusta.org.au/view-topic.php?topic=registration-options

Flinders Ranges Community Bank

Excitement has been building in the Flinders Ranges at the prospect of establishing its very own Community Bank® branch. A Community Bank® branch will be able to provide financial services the community, employ local people and make funding available for projects that will benefit all residents.

The Community Bank® concept was developed by Bendigo Bank to provide communities such as Quorn, Hawker, Wilmington and Cradock with the certainty that banking services and access to funding brings. Bendigo Bank provides the banking infrastructure and licensing, while the community runs the branch operation and generates customer support in the area. Together Bendigo Bank and the local community share the revenue, with local surpluses available for reinvestment into the community via grants, sponsorships and dividends to local shareholders. Apart from the benefits to local people, a Community Bank® branch is particularly important in communities where other banks have reduced their operating hours, or closed branches all together. Just like any branch of Bendigo Bank, Community Bank® branches offer a full range of banking and financial services, from everyday savings accounts to business banking and financial planning. By making a pledge you will be able to purchase shares in the local company that operates the Community Bank® branch. It’s similar to investing in any other company-you can buy and sell your shares, have voting rights and eventually, receive dividends. The sooner the local community can show its support by transferring its business to the Community Bank® branch, the sooner the branch will become profitable and can reinvest back into the community.

There are currently more than 290 Community Bank® branches across Australia that have returned more than $80 million to support local communities. A frequently asked quetions flyer is available here.

As at the 9th June 2013 the Flinders Ranges Community Bank® Project has a total of 121 pledges for $292,100 which is 39.0% of the $750,000 target. Pledge forms are available from The Flinders Ranges Council Office Quorn, Carling Fuel Quorn, Quorn Newsagency, Sightseers Cafe, Hawker or electronically here.