The City of Sydney is supporting business and residents while cementing Sydney’s place as a regional powerhouse.
A record budget of nearly $2 billion over the next decade will provide the infrastructure necessary to support economic and population growth while attracting trade, tourism and high-value jobs.

This investment is on top of the round-the-clock services delivered every day to meet the needs of over one million people who visit the City each day.

“The City of Sydney is ‘fit for the future’ and has the scale and capacity to ensure Sydney continues to deliver its potential as a thriving, business-friendly and liveable global city,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“The City has more than 400 infrastructure projects planned for the next 10 years. These will generate tens of millions of dollars in new contracts for businesses of all sizes and support around 2,000 new jobs a year.

“This comes on top of the $3.9 billion worth of residential and commercial developments we have recently approved, including two new residential buildings in the heart of the city that will be over 230m tall.”

“This enormous combination of public and private investment is a vote of confidence in the City of Sydney.”

The Independent Pricing and regulatory Tribunal (IPAR) is currently assessing the City’s response to the NSW Government’s ‘Fit for the Future’ program. Members of the public are also able to tell IPART what they think of their councils between now and July 31.

Through prudent financial management and forward planning, the City of Sydney has the scale and capacity to meet Sydney’s current and future needs. The NSW Treasury Corporation, TCorp, rates the City’s Financial Sustainability as ‘Strong’ with a positive outlook – the only one of 152 NSW Councils to receive this rating.

The City is leading its own strategic projects and providing financial support for major projects being delivered by the private sector and other levels of governments.

“The disruption and uncertainty caused by a forced amalgamation of the City of Sydney would be a blow to business and investment confidence,” the Lord Mayor said.

“The City has a unique role delivering services for more people than any other council in NSW. This includes collaborating on some of the biggest projects in Australia as well as core council services like toilet cleaning, footpath maintenance and garbage collections to meet local demand.”

The City is investing $220 million in support of the NSW Government’s CBD light rail project that will slash congestion and transform George Street into a world class boulevard.

$440million will be spent over the next 10 years to support Australia’s largest urban renewal project at Green Square, where state-of-the-art community facilities and infrastructure are being delivered to create a welcoming, exciting and connected precinct especially suited to families and young people.

The City of Sydney will also connect its growing population to jobs, homes and services by investing:

• Almost $40 million to integrate Barangaroo with surrounding areas;
• $240 million on upgrading public areas, such as footpaths, roadways and paving;
• $130 million to upgrade the city’s parks and green spaces;
• $53 million for new child care centres; and
• $27 million refurbishing our swimming pools.

“As we have constantly demonstrated, we have the strategic capacity to govern effectively, partner with industry and the NSW Government to deliver key priorities,” said the Lord Mayor.

“A forced amalgamation would disrupt this important work and jeopardise our planned investements. The Parliamentary Budget Office has said creating a ‘mega-council’ to cover the inner-city and eastern suburbs would cost $37.6 million, and significantly higher if forced.

“After the forced amalgamation between the City of Sydney and South Sydney Council in 2004 it took more than five years to bring together staffing, planning controls, rating categories, services and IT systems.

“The NSW Government’s latest, much more extensive amalgamation proposals would be highly disruptive for hundreds of thousands of ratepayers and businesses and for the local governments that serve them.”