Lismore City Council will invest a record $244.8 million to improve capital infrastructure, including roads, bridges, buildings, water and sewerage, this coming financial year, after Councillors voted to adopt a host of supporting documents, including the 2025/26 budget, at yesterday's extraordinary meeting.

The list of reports for adoption by councillors going into the 2025/26 financial year was long:

• Reimagine Lismore Community Strategic Plan (CSP) 2025 - 2035
• Delivery Program 2025-2029
• Operational Plan 2025/2026
• Operational Plan Budget 2025/2026
• Statement of Revenue Policy 2025/2026
• Fees and Charges 2025/2026
• Long Term Financial Plan 2025/2026 to 2034/2035
• Rates and Charges 2025/2026
• Community Engagement Strategy 2025
• Community Participation Plan
• Asset Management Planning 2025/2026
• Workforce Management Strategy

These documents were on public exhibition for 28 days, and according to Councillor (Cr) Adam Guise, about 40 people submitted their thoughts on the various documents.

With Crs Gianpiero Battista, Electra Jensen, and Virginia Waters absent, the eight other councillors debated the merits or shortcomings of the documents before adding possible changes and adopting them.

That debate included the same rhetoric from some councillors as it did in May before the draft documents went on public display.

An example was the Community Strategic Plan. Cr Knight-Smith and Cr Guise reiterated their point that the words 'affordable housing' were left out of the document. Crs Gordon and Rob said the 'diverse housing' wording was adequate as it included affordable housing in its definition.

As part of the adoption of 9.1, Reimagine Lismore: A Plan for the Future 2025-205, CSP and the Delivery Program, councillors voted to seek funding for seven items in the future:

1. upgrades to the Goonellabah off-lead dog park
2. beautification works in South Lismore
3. installation of an RV dump point
4. installation of CBD dog waste bag stations
5. lighting upgrades to Hepburn Park hockey complex
6. inner CBD and laneway lighting upgrades
7. a bus shelter at Goolmangar bus interchange
8. fix heritage lighting on Fawcetts Bridge

The reason funding was being sought was so that the items would have no effect on the budget to be adopted later in the meeting.

Cr Guise said that council staff ignored submissions from the community in not changing the CSP, but this was refuted by Cr Bing, who said councillors receive a great deal of community feedback privately through the course of each day and week.

The documents were adopted by seven councillors, with Cr Guise against.

When it came to adopting the financial documents and the Operational Plan, the conversation revolved around financial discipline versus spending part of the projected $609,000 cash surplus within a record budget of $430.5 million.

With Cr Waters absent, Cr Guise was representing the interests of the Nimbin Place Plan Budget when he sought $20,000 to illuminate Nimbin as part of the plan. Acting Chief Operating Officer Josh Smith said council staff would need to seek grant funding for the projects.

Cr Dalton-Earls would not take on the $20,000 amendment from Cr Guise in his motion to adopt the documents, so Cr Guise put forward his own amended motion, which was easily defeated, 2/6, with Crs Guise and Knight-Smith in favour.

Cr Guise referred to the removal of the naturalisation of the Browns Creek plan from the budget and expressed his doubts about council staff's ability to deliver the huge amount of capital works that are forecast to be completed this coming financial year.

Cr Rob argued that ripping up the concrete drains and replacing them with trees and animals would not work, as the animals would be killed during the next flood.

Cr Dalton-Earls, Gordon, Rob and Hall talked about financial responsibility, so that council can continue to have substantial cash surpluses each year to pay down debt and, when council is in a sound financial position, spend money on what the community wants rather than needs, which is the case now. Those needs were described as roads, rates and rubbish.

Cr Guise said the Long-Term Financial plan is not worth the paper it is printed on, given the many variables in a ten-year period. Mayor Steve Krieg countered that by saying that the Long-Term Financial Plan didn’t exist before, now they have a roadmap, and that he hoped ratepayers would see the long-term benefits of what will be achieved.

Financial prudence won the day through a 5/3 vote, with Crs Guise, Knight-Smith and Rob against. Cr Rob voted against because of the increase in fees and charges to ratepayers.

The increase in rates and charges next year to ratepayers is 3.9% to 5% for rates, rubbish and water.

Once again, the debate revolved around being financially responsible while council staff work their way through each line item in the budget, looking for efficiencies to get Lismore City Council on the road to a break-even budget with a cash surplus in the future.

While all councillors wanted to hold the costs for ratepayers, some said it could not be implemented while council is in the financial situation it is. Cr Gordon did point out that the CBD Commercial Rates were not going to increase, as a positive point for the 2025/2026 financial year.

Cr Gordon mentioned that previous terms of council were like a "kid in a lolly shop", and that they now have the team to curb previous excessive spending.

The financial documents will be adopted after a 5/3 vote, with Crs Guise, Knight-Smith and Rob against. Rob's vote was on principle.

The Community Engagement Plan and Community Participation Plan were adopted quickly, with only Cr Guise against.

The Asset Management Plan has been the Achilles heel of Lismore City Council for more than two decades. It has certainly been a long time since council could afford to replace its ageing assets without causing further stress to the budget.

One of the benefits of the 2022 big flood was that most of council's assets were being renewed due to state and federal government grants. The key now is to get council's finances in order so money can be put aside to renew the remaining assets in the future. The Property Strategy Plan is one part of council's strategy to determine if they need to sell off loss-making assets that have no benefit to the community.

Cr Guise expressed his lack of confidence in achieving the asset management goals, while Mayor Krieg said he does have confidence in council staff now that all the necessary documents are up to date and they are not looking at a document from 2013 or 2014.

The plan was adopted easily after a 7/1 vote, with Cr Guise against.

The only document that was a unanimous vote was the Workforce Management Strategy.

Now the strategies are in place, and the plan is clearly outlined in the relevant documents, council staff have to deliver the outcomes.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Mayor Krieg said, “We are investing significantly more in our 750km sewer and water network and 1215km road network, which most people don’t realise is a network greater than the distance from the Sunshine Coast to Sydney.”

Over the coming year, $184.6 million will be invested in roads and bridges, up from $74 million the previous financial year, $28.6 million will be spent improving Lismore’s sewer system assets, up from $13 million, and $1.04 million is being set aside to invest in drains, which represents a 25% increase in investment from the previous budget.

The total budget is $430.5 million, up from $301.1 million for 2024-2025, with a forecast to deliver a cash surplus.

“This significant uplift in investment for Lismore was achieved by Council’s ongoing and effective lobbying of Australian and State governments and strong advocacy efforts by civic leaders following the 2022 natural disaster,” Mayor Krieg said.

“We have successfully lobbied the Government to fund 10 major resilience infrastructure projects, including upgrades to pump stations at Browns Creek and Magellan Street, the installation of mechanical trash racks to protect inlets from debris, and a new fibre-optics link allowing for remote operations, monitoring and surveillance of current and future pump stations.”

“Councillors also understand people are doing it tough with the rising cost of living, that’s why we have frozen rates at the State Government’s rate peg of 3.9%. We are also delivering a 0% increase in rates for inner CBD businesses to support them as they continue to recover,” Mayor Krieg said.

“This budget is about investing in the right areas across all Council operations to strengthen Lismore’s economy and create a city and villages that attract people to come live, work and raise a family."

That brings an end to three consecutive council meetings. The next is an ordinary meeting schedule for Tuesday, July 8.