City of Greater Geelong says an operating deficit for 2023-24 is largely due to the timing of grants.
After forecasting a surplus for the year, figures showed a deficit of 17.6 million.
However council says grants of 24.1 million were received in early July.
A statement said council’s budget “…had assumed that close to $25 million in financial assistance grants would be paid during the 2023-24 financial year, including the majority of the 2024-25 allocation.”
The council’s acting CEO Troy Edwards says it was all about timing.
“The result does not make a material difference to the council’s operations or financial sustainability, it is just a matter of those payments from the Australian overnment arriving in our account a few days after the end of the financial year,” he said.
“We would otherwise have met our operating budget and delivered a small surplus.”
