City council walks back proposed budget cuts
Adelaide City Council has voted not to approve big funding cuts to its economic development agency and homelessness service that were proposed to help pay for a rates increase of 5.9 per cent instead of 6.9 per cent.
Councillor Mary Couros lost her bid to guarantee AEDA’s $500,000 commercial events and sponsorship fund will be reinstated in Q1 of the 2024/25 financial year. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
This decision follows backlash from the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) which was targeted for cuts worth approximately $770,000 last week.
The intention of the cuts is to help fund upgrades to park lands buildings and support a lower rate increase of 5.9 per cent for the next financial year, instead of the 6.9 per cent first recommended.
Last night’s council meeting reinstated AEDA’s commercial events and sponsorship program valued at $500,000 and reallocated those funds across its strategic partnerships, events and festival sponsorship programs.
This does not fully reinstate AEDA funding but allows it to retain the bulk of funding for activities that activate the city.
In a special finance committee meeting yesterday that focussed on the budget cuts, Councillor Mary Couros said AEDA funding should be retained because of its impact on smaller laneway activations which benefit small business owners.
“I don’t feel comfortable removing the $500,000 from the AEDA budget and the reason being is that it supports a lot of smaller events like the Ebenezer market,” she said.
“That is a very successful event and I know the East End Association rely on that funding to make that event happen, so if we take that away that’ll hurt them a lot.”
The council also voted to fully reinstate the main street precinct groups funding while a review of the groups is undertaken. Ongoing funding for this will be revisited when a report on the groups function is completed in December.
The Adelaide Zero Project, which aims to end rough sleeping homelessness in the inner city by 2025, will also be excluded from budget cuts and maintain the same level of funding as last financial year, receiving $208,000 from the council.
The Adelaide Zero Project was targeted for a potential $79,000 funding cut in the original savings plan.
In the special finance committee meeting, Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said excluding this program from budget cuts was “important make sure that homelessness is dealt with properly”.
“This is not a time to cut funding to housing,” she said.
Heritage and sustainability grant funding will also be reinstated to the same levels as the 2023/24 financial year.
The council will now have to find operational savings from other areas of their 2024/25 budget to achieve a desired 5.9 per cent rate rise.
The funding for the city’s external grant programs will be reviewed in the first quarter of the next financial year.
