Fact sheet 2: Local government financing
ALGA’s analysis of key points in the 2018-19 Federal Budget from a local government perspective.
Financial Assistance Grants
- The 2018-19 Budget maintains the system of payments to support local government, through Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs).
- In the 2018-19 year, the Australian Government will allocate $1.229 billion in FAGs for local government services to the community. It should be noted that $1.2B was also bought forward from 2018-19 into the 2017-18 financial year.
- FAGs continue to comprise two components: general purpose assistance grants; and untied local roads grants.
Table 1: Commonwealth funding for local government 2018-19 ($m)
| General Purpose Assistance | 851.3 |
| Untied Local Road Funding | 377.7 |
| TOTAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING | 1,229.0 |
*Note $1.2 billion was brought forward into the 2017-18 financial year
Table 2: Total Financial Assistance Grants to local government 2017-18 to 2021-22 ($m)
| 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | |
| General Purpose Assistance | 1,671.7 | 851.3 | 1,772.9 | 1,842.7 | 1,918.9 |
| Untied Local Road Funding | 741.8 | 377.7 | 786.7 | 817.7 | 851.5 |
| TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE | 2,413.4 | 1,229.0 | 2,559.6 | 2,660.4 | 2,770.3 |
Table 3: Financial Assistance Grants to local government by jurisdiction 2018-19 ($m)
| NSW | VIC | QLD | WA | SA | TAS | ACT | NT | Total | |
| General Purpose Assistance | 272.1 | 219.6 | 170.6 | 89.0 | 59.4 | 18.0 | 14.2 | 8.4 | 851.3 |
| Untied Local Road Funding | 109.6 | 77.9 | 70.8 | 57.8 | 20.8 | 20.0 | 12.1 | 8.8 | 377.7 |
| TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE | 381.7 | 297.5 | 241.4 | 146.7 | 80.1 | 38.0 | 26.3 | 17.3 | 1,229.0 |
*Note for the above tables – $1.2 billion was bought forward into the 2017-18 financial year
Posted 8 May, 2018