Council looks after a large asset portfolio consisting of 54,000 physical items and delivers five dozen services. All come with responsibilities and financial burdens for current and future generations.

Balancing delivery against the needs of a growing population is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of increased costs of service delivery, infrastructure development, and our limited range of revenue options.

The Council Plan is a critical document that guides what we do and how we do it. It is reviewed following every election providing the most significant opportunity for our community to shape the delivery of services and activities for the next four years.

Since July 2024, we have been conversing with our community on key areas they would like us to focus on. During this time we engaged with around 2,500 residents, who provided 700 comments online or at in-person opportunities, and through a deliberative engagement process. The key findings from these conversations are detailed below.

This feedback will underscore the draft Council Plan 2025/29, and review of the Asset, Financial and Municipal Health and Wellbeing plans. We'll be sharing drafts towards the end of the first quarter of 2025, for further comment.

You'll find more information on our engagement and feedback from our community in the document library.

More than 500 contributions helped inform the current Community Vision which sits in the Community Plan - Maribyrnong 2040, endorsed in 2018.

In July 2024, we asked if you thought it was still relevant. Most who responded said it was okay but could do with some work.

This was part of the work the Foundations for Tomorrow Panel has considered.

The most recent Council Plan was adopted in June 2021 and outlines Council's vision for "creating an inclusive, flourishing, progressive city that cares for both its residents and its environment".

It establishes the strategic objectives for the next four years including actions to achieve them.

The Council Plan 2021/25 also incorporates the Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plan which focuses on improving the physical, social, natural, cultural, and economic environments that impact community health.

It is reviewed annually to consider emerging community needs.

A new Council Plan is developed every four years following the election of a new Council. The Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plan is this time being developed as a stand-alone document.

You can download a copy of the current Plan in the document library.

Council looks after a large asset portfolio with a total estimated replacement value in excess of $1 billion dollars.

This Plan guides the efficient and effective management of these assets, such as buildings, roads, and drainage systems, through to footpaths, bike paths and parks and ovals, over a 10-year period.

It is designed to ensure these assets are managed in a way that ensures they are fit for purpose for the community – now and for future generations – while also providing best value outcomes throughout their lifecycle in terms of cost, taking into account things like population growth, demographic changes, ageing infrastructure and technology advances.

The Asset Plan 2022-2032 focuses on four asset classes:

• Open Space - parks, public open spaces and streetscapes, along with recreational, leisure, and community facilities.
• Drainage - underground pipes and drainage pits that manage stormwater flow.
• Transport - public roads, footpaths, kerbs, carparks, and bridges.
• Buildings - ranging from sporting and community facilities through to recreational facilities and public toilets.

You can download a copy in the document library.

As part of our review, Council is undertaking a benchmarking exercise to rank the current state of our assets against the 2024 National State of the Assets Report to better quantify what is known as our 'renewal gap' - this is the funding we will need to set aside each year just to maintain our assets as they are today, before considering any improvements or new builds.

Just as residents are dealing with increasing cost of living expenses, multiple years of State Government rate caps have also impacted our financial position.

The Long-Term Financial Plan (Financial Plan) considers both the current financial situation and future projections to support delivery of projects, initiatives, and programs our community thinks are most important for our City over the next 10 years.

You can download a copy in the document library.

Creating a new Council Plan, confirming the Community Vision, and reviewing the Asset and Financial plans is the most significant opportunity for residents to influence the work Council does over the next four years. To help ensure these documents reflect the needs of our community, we sought feedback from our community during two engagement phases from July to December 2024.

Around 2,500 residents engaged on the project across multiple channels providing 700 individual comments.

February to May 2024:

We first wanted to understand how you would like to be involved in this project and asked you to complete a short online questionnaire or chat with a new two-way communication tool, Hello Lamp Post, launched in April, on a trial basis.

You told us your preference is online, but you'd still like the opportunity to talk in person or provide hard-copy feedback. You'll find a summary of initial feedback in the document library.

July to September 2024:

We asked if you thought the Vision remained relevant and for your thoughts around the strategic direction Council should consider in the next Council Plan.

• Most who responded said the Community Vision was good, but they would like to see more reflection around embracing our history and differences, and a greater focus on our diverse and sustainable community.
• There was some support for the current strategic objectives but also a desire to see a greater focus on the environment and sustainability.

We also sought initial feedback to help our review of the Asset and Financial plans.

• There was a mixture of responses in terms of how we should manage our community assets.
• The top five priorities were:
  • Roads and drainage maintenance
  • Open space, city design, and strategic planning
  • Sustainability and the environment
  • Leisure, health and wellbeing
  • Library Services.

You can read more in the Engagement Summary Infographic located in the document library.

November/December 2024:

As required under the Local Government Act 2020, Council has also undertaken a deliberative process -which literally means‘weighing up’ evidence and involves giving long and thoughtful consideration to a problem or remit to inform group decisions in future.

This involved:

• three Foundations for Tomorrow workshops involving a panel of 15 members of the community engaged through an Expressions of Interest process
• 17 Kitchen Table Conversations with each of our suburbs and specific demographics such as youth, seniors, and First Nations
• an online deliberative survey open to the community generally.

During this Phase the problem we specifically engaged on was:

How might Council prioritise its services into the future given community expectations, a growing population, climate change, and financial constraints?

• Are there any services or priorities you might be willing to adjust, let go of, or re-prioritise?
• Have we got the balance right between the cost and quality of our assets and programs with the changing needs of the community?
• What level of maintenance might you be prepared to accept for Council-managed assets (roads, footpaths, libraries, community centres, and other community facilities) to support the ongoing needs of a growing population?

A summary of the key findings is presented in the Engagement Summary Infographic (Phase One and Two) that can be found in the document library.