UPDATE: 4:48pm

The Lismore has received the following statement from the Lismore City Council today.

Council is currently preparing its budget for the coming financial year.

The impact of COVID-19 has affected many of Council’s operations and dramatically reduced expected cashflow over the coming 12 months.

Council is currently investigating all options about its ongoing operations to ensure we continue to provide the community with the essential services they need. No decisions have yet been made.

ORIGINAL STORY

It has been revealed through a leaked document that the Lismore City Council (LCC) is forecast to run out of cash by July or August this year.

While Mayor Isaac Smith would not comment on any leaked document, he did say that council was facing unprecedented challenges to maintaining services in next years budget, with major changes required to keep it in the black.

He said that budget process for 20/21 is being conducted now and will be available for councillors to review by the end of April.

"For the LCC to remain solvent there will need to be some very tough decisions made by councillors in the coming months", he said. "This will involve a drastic reduction in services".

A loss of services equals a loss of jobs for part of the remaining 427 council positions following the loss of 73 jobs The Lismore App reported on March 29.

Mayor Smith said "we just don't know how much impact the initial job cuts had on our budget. This will be more transparent as we go through the budget process".

"What I can say is that every decision we make as a council means someone's job, this is not something that we take lightly".

Local Government Councils cannot take advantage of the Federal Governments JobKeeper package or other stimulus packages available to normal businesses.

So, this leaves the LCC to apply for infrastructure stimulus projects from the Federal and State governments, and if successful, transfer people into these new projects.

One part of the LCC business that looks likely to remain closed permanently is Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre (GSAC.

"This will be very hard to re-open", Mayor Smith said. "As it costs council over $1 million a year to operate the facility".

So, what are other options open to LCC?

"The State Government could increase the existing rate peg of 2.6% to help not just our council but a lot of other rural councils that are struggling financially right now," he said.

"We have been lobbying both levels of government for support and have received some positive responses but there has been no indication of the way forward. I would love to see the State Government step up", Mayor Smith concluded.

Watch this space as there will be some tough decisions to be made in the coming months.

The next Lismore City Council meeting is tonight at 6pm. You can stream the meeting live to watch proceedings https://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-DVR-70-64-45.