Several issues are straining the city's budget as Tamworth council stares down the barrel of a grim financial future.
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A recent meeting of council's Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) identified multiple potential "risks" to the Tamworth Regional Council's finances.
The issues include some council properties losing value, costs from developing the Tamworth Global Gateway Park, and ongoing remediation costs from the asbestos problem in Ray Walsh House.
The exact details of these issues are confidential - as is the case for all ARIC documents - but mayor Russell Webb told the Leader council was taking steps to protect its bottom line.
"At the moment anything that's going to have a negative impact on our budget and our community is of concern to us, and we're doing what we can to address those issues," Cr Webb said.
Specific to Ray Walsh House, the mayor said council was still "trying our best" to get funding from the state government and can't move forward until the NSW Minister for Lands and Property, Steve Kamper, makes his decision.
What's the damage?
Deputy mayor and ARIC member Judy Coates said the issues the audit committee flagged "aren't serious", but it was important council clarified every expenditure as it prepared its end-of-year financial statements.
"It was more about identifying potential [risk] rather than claiming anything is an absolute risk ... anything around [declining asset values] affects the bottom line of the financial statements so it's all about getting that information and figuring out what it's going to look like going forward," Cr Coates said.
"It's really important that everything we get towards the end of the financial year is as clarified as possible so we know what next year is going to look like."
She also said it's vital for council to be open and transparent about its spending, especially as it seeks approval for a 36.3 per cent rate rise.
"We've gone out for a special rate variation, and we need to make sure we're fiscally responsible to the community," Cr Coates said.
Financial sustainability is a hot topic for councils across Australia as many struggle to deliver services while dealing with high inflation and cost shifting from the state government.
Two separate inquiries into how local councils are funded are currently underway: one from the Australian Parliament and another from the NSW Parliament.
Tamworth's mayor said the "only good result" these inquiries could have is if they recommend more money flow from the top levels of government into local councils.
"Federally, the grants [local governments] get equate to about 0.55 per cent of taxation. Really that should be one per cent, and if we could get that councils like ours would be around $5 to $10 million better off per year," Cr Webb said.