Broken Hill is set to miss out on up to $5 million per year in funding for the foreseeable future after a review of the Financial Assistance Grants scheme was rejected.
Financial Assistance Grants are provided by the Australian Government to local Councils to help deliver essential community services, maintain infrastructure and roads, and address differences in councils' financial capacity and expenditure needs.
The NSW Local Government Grants Commission recently completed a review of how Financial Assistance Grants are divided amongst Councils, and proposed a new methodology which would see struggling Councils receive a fairer share of the funding, while larger Councils with the capacity to easily generate revenue would receive less.
Unfortunately for Broken Hill the new methodology was not adopted, with the Commission stating the decision was made due to feedback received during consultation with Councils between August and October 2026.
Mayor Tom Kennedy said the outcome was incredibly disappointing, and a massive blow to struggling Councils across New South Wales.
"This is devastating for Councils who are struggling to make ends meet. This increase in funding would have been transformative for Councils and their communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the State," he said.
"The very nature of Financial Assistance Grants is to ensure Councils can deliver essential services, and yet there are Councils posting handsome annual profits and still collecting financial assistance when other Councils cannot even provide the basics for their communities.
"The worst part is that this issue has been identified by the review process and given the tick of approval to continue."
Mayor Kennedy moved a Mayoral Minute at last night's Council meeting calling for the review process to reopened and further consultation with Councils to be carried out.
The motion also called on the Government to disregard a questionable submission made by the Country Mayors Association of NSW regarding the issue. The submission was lodged without consultation with all member Councils, and supported the retention of the old methodology despite the fact that the majority of member Councils would be worse off under that arrangement.
