SERVICE AREA,INDICATOR,MEASURE DESCRIPTION,Alpine Shire,SIMILAR COUNCILS,ALL COUNCILS,TREND,COUNCIL SAYS
"Animal Management","Timeliness","Time taken to action animal management requests",1.25193798449612 days,1.499553 days,1.713146 days,1472.00%,"Council's Local Laws Officers continue to respond promptly to animal management requests. While the result suggests response took slightly longer in 2019/20 compared to the previous year, this increase is caused by a small percentage of jobs that took longer to attend to. The number of animal management requests increased by 17% in 2019/20 compared to the previous year."
"Animal Management","Service standard","Animals reclaimed from council",42.14%,47.41%,47.26%,-3084.00%,"Less animals returned to their owners is impacted mostly by the use of social media - the community are very active posting lost animals on local social media pages to return them to their owners. Council officers are generally called when these social media efforts are unsuccessful, meaning the animals are less likely to be claimed by their owners. Council is proactive in rehoming animals, and if animals reclaimed and rehomed are considered together, more than 96% of all animals collected by Council find a home."
"Animal Management","Service standard","Animals rehomed",54.29%,39.10%,31.96%,,"Note: new indicator for 2019-20 financial year. 
Council has an agreement with the RSPCA to assist with rehoming animals that are not able to be returned to their owners. 
If animals reclaimed and rehomed are considered together, more than 96% of all animals collected by Council find a home."
"Animal Management","Service cost","Cost of animal management service per population",$8.68934290619635,$17.856641,$12.535750,,"Note: indicator is replacing previous 'Cost of animal management service' which was based on cost per number of registered animals. 
An increase in the number of animal management requests meant that more time was spend on animal management in 2019/20 than in previous years (an increase from 42% to 52% of Local Laws Office time). This reflects an increase in total costs compared to the previous year."
"Animal Management","Health and Safety","Successful animal management prosecutions",0.00%,17.65%,63.75%,,"No animal management prosecutions were referred to court in 2019/20. 
(Note: indicator is replacing previous 'Animal management prosecutions' which was a measure of number, not proportion)
"
"Aquatic Facilities","Service standard","Health inspections of aquatic facilities",0.333333333333333,1.061111,1.524432,-8000.00%,"Due to appointment of a pool coordinator this year, Environmental Health staff spent time ensuring that routine pool testing capabilities were sufficient at the start of the season, and were intending to undertake inspections part way through the season. However, due to bushfire and early pool closures, these inspections were not completed. However, robust procedures for water testing are in place with pool staff, and as such the risks are considered minimal."
"Aquatic Facilities","Utilisation","Number of visits to aquatic facilities per head of municipal population",2.24145465896675 visits,2.789173 visits,3.977699 visits,-533.00%,"Pool attendance has been greatly impacted in 2019/20 due to Bushfires in January 2020, and COVID-19 restrictions from March 2020 onwards. Outdoor pool bookings would normally include swimming classes, water aerobics, visiting athletics groups, school holiday programs, and pool parties. In Mount Beauty and Myrtleford many of these were cancelled due to fires / air quality (smoke) closures in January and February. The timing for many school groups was also affected. COVID-19 restrictions have also led to the closure of the indoor pool at Bright Sports Centre."
"Aquatic Facilities","Service cost","Cost of aquatic facilities per visit",$8.32671819511176,$16.067953,$8.367016,,"Note: from 2020, this indicator replaced two previous indicators: 'Cost of indoor aquatic facilities' and 'Cost of outdoor aquatic facilities'. 
While there is no direct comparison for this result compared to previous years, Council anticipates that cost per visit may be higher in 2019/20 compared to future years, due to the negative impact on visitation and income due to January 2020 bushfires, and COVID-19 restrictions from March 2020 onwards."
"Food Safety","Timeliness","Time taken to action food complaints",1 days,1.225439 days,1.612097 days,0.00%,"Council continues to action food complaints promptly."
"Food Safety","Service standard","Percentage of required food safety assessments undertaken",56.28%,85.05%,95.00%,5009.00%,"The number of food safety assessments completed reflects an improvement on the previous year, partly due to the recruitment of an additional part-time Environmental Health Officer in July 2019. The Environmental Health team continues to apply a risk based approach to food safety assessments, ensuring that higher risk premises and non-compliances are followed up as a priority."
"Food Safety","Service cost","Cost of food safety service per premises",$167.52,$557.393440,$502.095791,2796.00%,"Council engaged an additional part-time Environmental Health Officer in July 2019.  Bushfires and COVID-19 in 2020 resulted in many businesses closing down temporarily or reducing operational hours, this impacted on the inspection schedule and reduced time spent on delivery of food safety services."
"Food Safety","Health and Safety","Percentage of critical and major non-compliance outcome notifications followed up by council",95.83%,84.14%,91.91%,1566.00%,"Environmental Health staff focussed on following up non-compliance as a priority in 2019, to ensure that Environmental Health resources were appropriately allocated according to risk profiles of food premises."
"Governance","Transparency","Council decisions made at meetings closed to the public",1.41%,11.21%,9.84%,-819.00%,"Social distancing restrictions did not impact on the proportion of decisions made at meetings closed to the public."
"Governance","Consultation and Engagement","Community satisfaction with community consultation and engagement",57 /100,54.473684 /100,56.310127 /100,179.00%,"Council will be reviewing its approach to community engagement in collaboration with the community through the development of a Community Engagement Policy in 2020/21 in line with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2020."
"Governance","Attendance","Councillor attendance at council meetings",93.41%,93.47%,92.01%,241.00%,"Social distancing restrictions did not impact on councillor attendance at Council meetings during 2019/20."
"Governance","Service cost","Cost of elected representation",$36673.7142857143,$42533.301840,$49089.267619,1282.00%,"Cost of elected representation has increased in 2019/20, primarily due to a temporary increase in payments to the mayor and councillors. This was due to an Order made by the Governor in Council under s74B of the Local Government Act 1989 on 9 January 2020, that applied to Alpine, East Gippsland, and Towong Shire Councils in recognition of the increased demand relating to the 2020 bushfires. The Order required a 100% increase in mayoral allowances, and a 50% increase in councillor allowances, for a period of 90 days (January - March 2020)."
"Governance","Satisfaction","Community satisfaction with council decisions",56 /100,53.157895 /100,55.135443 /100,-508.00%,"Community satisfaction with Council decisions fell slightly compared to the previous year, however performance remains higher than both the State-wide and Small Rural Council averages (both 53). Council's upcoming review of its approach to community engagement will have an objective of improving satisfaction with Council decisions."
"Libraries","Utilisation","Physical library collection usage",2.81851992730654 items,2.043410 items,3.563301 items,1076.00%,"Physical resource loans dropped by 15% in Q4 of 2019/20 due to bushfires, social distancing restrictions and library closures, however throughout the year Council undertook significant weeding of the collection, removing 25% of dated stock. As a result the overall usage of the collection has experienced an increase. 
It is noted that due to library closures some funds were diverted towards electronic resources which experienced an uptick in popularity."
"Libraries","Resource currency","Proportion of library resources less than 5 years old",59.65%,56.90%,65.34%,149.00%,"Substantial weeding of dated items has taken place in 2019/20, resulting in an improved standard of the library collection. It is noted that library closures due to COVID-19 resulted in a decision to put a temporary hold on ordering and receiving new physical items, and as such this metric may be lower than it would be if we had continued to receive new items."
"Libraries","Participation","Active library borrowers in municipality",18.40%,14.93%,14.88%,-218.00%,"The number of active library users has dropped slightly compared to the previous year.  This is likely due to bushfires, library closures and social distancing measures impacting on services in 2019/20. 
Note: from 2019/20 onwards, this measure reflects the average number of active library borrowers over three years, while previous years' data was a measure of that year only."
"Libraries","Service cost","Cost of library service per population",$25.8368347120337,$38.778305,$32.095855,,"Note: The cost of library services per population is a new measure in 2019/20, so there is no previous data to compare to. Overall, costs have reduced in 2019/20 compared to the previous year, however library access hours were impacted by closures due to bushfires and COVID-19 during 2020."
"Maternal and Child Health","Service standard","Infant enrolments in the MCH service",101.05%,100.36%,100.81%,105.00%,"In a small number of cases, Council also conducts home visits for newborns where the birth notification was received elsewhere, but Alpine MCH Nurses conduct the first home visit."
"Maternal and Child Health","Service cost","Cost of the MCH service",$67.373786407767,$91.722829,$81.814586,-932.00%,
"Maternal and Child Health","Participation","Participation in the MCH service",74.35%,82.41%,78.05%,-1206.00%,"Participation in the MCH service was greatly impacted during January - June 2020 due to bushfires and COVID-19 restrictions. As a result of these emergencies, restrictions to service delivery were imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Despite the restrictions imposed, the MCH team continued to support the community, with only a 10% point reduction in service participation."
"Maternal and Child Health","Participation","Participation in the MCH service by Aboriginal children",58.82%,88.36%,82.00%,-2570.00%,"Participation in the MCH service was greatly impacted during January - June 2020 due to bushfires and COVID-19 restrictions. As a result of these emergencies, restrictions to service delivery were imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Council has a small number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island enrolments, so a slight reduction in participation creates a greater reduction in overall results."
"Maternal and Child Health","Satisfaction","Participation in 4-week Key Age and Stage visit",102.11%,98.85%,97.03%,,
"Roads","Satisfaction","Sealed local road requests per 100km of sealed local roads",44.9704142011834 requests,37.334441 requests,53.925778 requests,1878.00%,"The number of sealed local road requests returned to a more usual pattern in 2019/20, following a drop in the previous year. 50% of all requests related to drainage, with the remaining 50% relating to the road surface including pot holes and line marking."
"Roads","Condition","Sealed local roads maintained to condition standards",98.82%,96.91%,96.43%,-32.00%,
"Roads","Service cost","Cost of sealed local road reconstruction per square metre",$53.6551895381559,$73.845259,$97.162232,2574.00%,"Reconstruction cost increased compared to the previous year due to the Standish St (Myrtleford) project where 1845m2 was reconstructed. Of this there was 153m2 of concrete pavement, as well as 60m of kerb & channel and an asphalt wearing course. The costs also included site establishment and traffic management costs."
"Roads","Service cost","Cost of sealed local road resealing per square metre",$11.4415540741034,$5.100694,$13.451249,8677.00%,"Resealing costs increased compared to the previous year, due to an increase in asphalt overlays used in 2019/20. The Standish St (Myrtleford) project used 2210m2 of asphalt overlay, and the reseals program used 2695m2 of asphalt overlay."
"Roads","Satisfaction","Community satisfaction with sealed local roads",61 /100,51.315789 /100,56.212658 /100,-469.00%,"Community satisfaction with sealed local roads fell slightly compared to the previous year, however performance remains strong compared to both the State-wide average (54) and Small Rural Council average (51)."
"Statutory Planning","Timeliness","Time taken to decide planning applications",68 days,52.289474 days,65.411392 days,8889.00%,"Council's Statutory Planning department has been transitioning in a new team during a sustained busy period. Largely complex applications have taken more time to determine whilst simpler application have still maintained acceptable decision timeframes."
"Statutory Planning","Service standard","Planning applications decided within required time frames",55.65%,76.39%,73.97%,-2260.00%,"2019/20 Statutory Planning department work load has been heavily burdened by a backlog resulting from a period of time when the department was short staffed and further compounding by high volumes of development activity associated with previously approved developments."
"Statutory Planning","Service cost","Cost of statutory planning service per planning application",$1533.49794238683,$2603.581744,$2645.653862,1397.00%,"Overall costs have increased, mainly due to Council employing an additional planning officer during 2019/20.  "
"Statutory Planning","Decision making","Council planning decisions upheld at VCAT",0.00%,26.39%,50.61%,-10000.00%,"No statutory planning decisions were referred to VCAT during 2019/20."
"Waste Collection","Satisfaction","Kerbside bin collection requests per 1,000 households",79.946002699865 requests,70.413408 requests,119.914717 requests,-537.00%,
"Waste Collection","Service standard","Kerbside collection bins missed per 10,000 households",1.47158134518662 bins,3.223409 bins,5.032448 bins,38.00%,
"Waste Collection","Service cost","Cost of kerbside garbage bin collection service per bin",$113.282070077701,$121.497779,$112.028338,-546.00%,
"Waste Collection","Service cost","Cost of kerbside recyclables collection service per bin",$61.1659751037344,$76.486913,$65.171527,-361.00%,
"Waste Collection","Waste diversion","Kerbside collection waste diverted from landfill",40.40%,34.07%,44.13%,250.00%,
"Financial Performance","Expenditure level","Expenses per property assessment",$2955.39666326183,$3889.111925,$3402.808277,-1206.00%,"The 2018/19 expenses result was higher than trend due to the impact of a number of one-off items, including 
a) a write-down in the value of Council's open spaces and waste assets following a detailed revaluation exercise; 
b) an increase in the provision for the rehabilitation of the Myrtleford landfill following a review of future requirements; and 
c) a significant proportion of infrastructure project expenditure being operational in nature. 
The 2019/20 result is more reflective of the expected trend for expenses to increase in line with inflationary pressures."
"Financial Performance","Revenue level","Average rate per property assessment",$1683.69084099421,$1680.548565,$1774.715687,,
"Financial Performance","Working capital","Current assets as a percentage of current liabilities",373.35%,362.57%,291.35%,683.00%,"Cash balances have increased slightly in 2019/20 due to the receipt of Bushfire Recovery funding."
"Financial Performance","Unrestricted cash","Unrestricted cash as a percentage of current liabilities",-48.11%,128.38%,88.99%,-110016.00%,"Council's commitment to carried-forward capital works of $2.2m and unspent conditional grants of $2.2m is greater than the amount of cash on hand $1.3m, resulting in a negative unrestricted cash amount for 2019/20. However Council holds a significant proportion of funds in term deposits of $24.0m with maturity dates staged throughout the year in order to support cashflow and there are no concerns regarding the availability of cash to meet these commitments.  Term deposits with an original maturity of greater than 90 days are defined as other financial assets for the purposes of the Performance Statement."
"Financial Performance","Loans and borrowings","Loans and borrowings as a percentage of rates",0.00%,6.62%,15.03%,0.00%,"Council continues to operate free from borrowings and has no foreseeable need for loans in the future."
"Financial Performance","Loans and borrowings","Loans and borrowings repayments as a percentage of rates",0.00%,4.10%,4.73%,0.00%,
"Financial Performance","Indebtedness","Non-current liabilities as a percentage of own source revenue",20.36%,14.55%,21.38%,-227.00%,
"Financial Performance","Asset renewal and upgrade","Asset renewal and asset upgrade as a percentage of depreciation",112.32%,109.73%,115.25%,,"Council continues to support a strong capital works program with significant renewal and upgrade activity and does not foresee a future renewals gap based on long term financial modelling."
"Financial Performance","Adjusted underlying result","Adjusted underlying surplus (or deficit) as a percentage of underlying revenue",16.84%,-0.94%,-0.05%,-36942.00%,"The 2018/19 deficit result was significantly lower than trend due to the impact of a number of one-off items, including 
a) a write-down in the value of Council's open spaces and waste assets following a detailed revaluation exercise; 
b) an increase in the provision for the rehabilitation of the Myrtleford landfill following a review of future requirements; and 
c) a significant proportion of infrastructure project expenditure being operational in nature. "
"Financial Performance","Rates concentration","Rates as a percentage of adjusted underlying revenue",58.77%,52.55%,61.87%,-890.00%,"Council received significant Bushfire Recovery funding of $3.4m in 2019/20 which proportionately increased non-rates sources of revenue."
"Financial Performance","Rates effort","Rates as a percentage of property values in municipality",0.51%,0.53%,0.41%,-650.00%,"The overall value of property across the Shire significantly increased in 2019/20."
"Sustainable Capacity","Population","Expenses per head of municipal population",$2032.15233338536,$3167.835631,$2047.982523,-1165.00%,"The 2018/19 expenses result was higher than trend due to the impact of a number of one-off items, including 
a) a write-down in the value of Council's open spaces and waste assets following a detailed revaluation exercise; 
b) an increase in the provision for the rehabilitation of the Myrtleford landfill following a review of future requirements; and 
c) a significant proportion of infrastructure project expenditure being operational in nature. 
The 2019/20 result is more reflective of the expected trend for expenses to increase in line with inflationary pressures."
"Sustainable Capacity","Population","Infrastructure per head of municipal population",$14489.3085687529,$25372.867045,$15070.916861,-179.00%,
"Sustainable Capacity","Population","Population density per length of road",22.3630017452007 people,10.030028 people,111.870511 people,154.00%,
"Sustainable Capacity","Own source revenue","Own-source revenue per head of municipal population",$1654.75261432808,$1936.443481,$1488.383509,124.00%,"There has been some minor impact on user fees due to the impact of COVID-19 and the 2019/20 bushfire season."
"Sustainable Capacity","Recurrent grants","Recurrent grants per head of municipal population",$427.579210238801,$982.603288,$453.447757,675.00%,"The Roads to Recovery Grant and Financial Assistant Grant both increased in 2019/20."
"Sustainable Capacity","Disadvantage","Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage of the municipality",5 decile,3.947368 decile,5.531646 decile,0.00%,
"Sustainable Capacity","Staff turnover","Percentage of workforce turnover",11.00%,14.24%,12.52%,,