There’s never been a more critical time to invest in the projects our growing community needs and to stimulate our local economy with the creation of local jobs for local people.

That’s why we’re investing a record $482 million to deliver more than 500 new capital works projects over the next four years, in the biggest community infrastructure program in our history.

By funding important projects our growing suburbs need now, we're making a real difference to the lives of our residents and connecting them to the programs and services they want, and need, close to home.

In 2021/22, $111 million in new funding will enable the delivery of 150 shovel-ready projects to stimulate our economy, creating thousands of construction jobs.

We’ll construct roads, footpaths, walking and cycling paths and bridges, develop community facilities, stadiums and pavilions and upgrade sporting reserves, parks and playgrounds.

Highlights of the four-year capital works program include:

• $25.88 million for the development of the new multi-deck carpark on the corner of Station and Evans Street in Sunbury;
• $22.5 million for the construction of Yirrangan Road to Watsons Road at Jacksons Hill;
• Completion of the $12.9 million Mickleham North Community Centre and the $5.8 million Kalkallo Community Centre;
• Commencement and continuation of works on the $9.5 million Kalkallo Central community hub, the $7.4 million Merrifield West southern community centre, the $6.5 million Craigieburn Community Centre, the $3.2 million Valley Park community centre and the $2.5 million Seabrook Reserve community hub;
• $8.2 million for the redevelopment of the Greenvale Recreation Reserve including the new home of the Hume Indoor Cricket Training Centre;
• $6 million towards the Jackson Hill Arts and Cultural precinct;
• Continuing the revitalisation of Broadmeadows with $37 million being invested in the development of the Loop Road multi-deck carpark and redevelopment of the Hume Global Learning Centre.

We continue to invest in a wide range of essential day-to-day Council services, allocating $245.5 million to deliver them for our growing community.

From waste and recycling, planning and building, preschool, maternal and child health, immunisation, aged services, business programs, libraries, parks and open space, leisure centres and community facilities.

Over the next 12 months we’ll:

• Collect more than 72,000 tonnes of kerbside waste, recycling and organics;
• Provide 14,000 hard waste collections;
• Deliver 4,200 kilometres of roadside litter cleaning;
• Remove more than 40,000 square metres of graffiti;
• Provide 68,000 hours of domestic care, personal and respite care for elderly residents;
• Deliver more than 21,000 units of meals for people in need;
• Host more than 1 million visits to our leisure centres;
• Welcome more than 900,000 visits to our libraries and learning centres;
• Deliver more than 24,000 vaccinations;
• Coordinate 29,000 maternal and child health consultations;
• Register more than 24,000 dogs and cats; and
• Deliver more than 1000 food safety assessments.

Our City continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, and has the third largest population growth of any local government area within Victoria. Over the next 12 years, we expect to welcome an additional 124,000 new residents to our municipality.

In the last four years, more than 12,000 people have chosen to make Hume their home. Last year alone, we welcomed 3,500 new residents to Australia’s fastest growing suburb, Mickleham.

Our growing community needs the support of government in schools, roads, hospitals and infrastructure that enhances long-term quality of life and community connection.

To meet the needs of our growing community, we’re building four new community centres in the north, a new active open space in Cloverton, several rugby pitches and duplicating the Aitken Boulevard in Craigieburn.

Community Centres in Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Kalkallo and Mickleham will create permanent spaces for a broad range of services including consulting rooms for maternal and child health services, specialist services, community meeting spaces, preschool and learning spaces and administrative services.

Our residents are at the heart of this budget.

That includes long-term recovery planning – working with our communities to support and rebuild in the months and years to come.

The crippling effects on our local economy in 2020 were significant, as many residents were stood down or lost their jobs and some businesses have closed their doors permanently.

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve continued supporting our community by changing and adapting our services so people can still connect with us and access what they need to.

In 2021/22, we’ll continue to help drive our community’s recovery and respond to local issues, needs and opportunities through our COVID-19 Recovery and Reactivation Plan(External link).

We’ve thoughtfully considered and analysed feedback from our residents, ratepayers, community and sporting groups and other stakeholders through surveys, community consultation and engagement activities to understand what means the most to our people and determine our financial priorities for the coming year and beyond.

In 2020/21 we prioritised maintaining expenditure levels and achieving efficiency gains. This has been achieved while still maintaining and, in many instances, improving service levels.

Council has had a strong focus on maintaining expenditure at 2020/21 levels where possible and on achieving savings, without cutting services.

Council’s budget for 2021/22 includes a total income of $473.69 million and operating expenditure of $334.09 million, generating a surplus of $139.6 million.

The Victorian Government's Fair Go Rates System has set the rate cap at 1.5 per cent for the upcoming financial year. We’re actively working within this rate cap to expand our facilities while delivering quality services to our community.