Performance information has a vital role in supporting councils to effectively manage their performance against identified objectives. It provides leadership teams with a way to focus on performance issues and areas of improvement in a timely way.

Councils can use the LGPRF to gain a broad understanding of their performance in some common service areas. However, to ensure that services are meeting the needs of their local community, councils need to identify their own performance indicators.

In this part we assess the design and implementation of the LGPRF and identify areas for improvement.

1.1 Introduction

Local governments deliver a wide range of services to their communities, such as recreational and cultural facilities, waste management, family and community services, and infrastructure including roads and bridges.

Councils fund services through a combination of rates, charges and fees, and payments from the state and Commonwealth governments.

Local governments deliver a wide range of services to the community, such as recreational and cultural facilities, waste management, family and community services, and local infrastructure including roads and bridges. In 2017–18, Victoria's 79 councils collectively spent $8.5 billion on service delivery, and owned and maintained $102.1 billion worth of assets and infrastructure.

Our dashboard is an interactive visualisation tool summarising the financial statement data for Victoria’s 79 councils.

We grouped councils into five cohorts based on size, demographics and funding:

Ordered to be published

VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER December 2018

PP No 2, Session 2018

Accountability

Responsibility of public entities to achieve their objectives in reliability of financial reporting, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, compliance with applicable laws, and reporting to interested parties.

Adverse opinion

An audit opinion expressed if the auditor has sufficient appropriate audit evidence and concludes that misstatements, individually and in aggregate, are both material and pervasive in the financial report.

This appendix sets out the definitions and criteria we used to assess and report on financial sustainability risks across the local government sector.

These financial sustainability indicators are only indicative, highlighting ongoing and emerging financial sustainability risks at a sector and cohort level—metropolitan, interface, regional, large shire and small shire councils.

Figure D1 shows the risk ratings applied to issues raised in management letters. It also details what they represent and the expected time lines for the issue to be resolved.

Figure D1
Risk definitions applied to issues reported in audit management letters