10-Year Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP)

Castlereagh Macquarie County Council – Weed Control

The 10-Year Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) is a part of the Council’s Resourcing Strategy. The Plan is used to ensure that a council can have an understanding of the current financial situation and the projections of several future directions. The LTFP is developed in conjunction with the Workforce Plan and the Asset Management Plan and is combined as The Resourcing Strategy. The objectives are the same. These Plans are prepared for at least the next 10 years and are required to be reviewed each year.

The LTFP is set out to show the financial impact of providing different levels of service to the community. The Plan includes projections of revenue and expenditure, the balance sheet and projected cash flows. Behind these projections, there are several assumptions that are used to build the Plan. These assumptions are usually related to the level of asset renewal and maintenance, inflation rate, growth in dwellings, the timing of revenue, level of grants, level of service, etc. The projections are modified to highlight the major scenarios (or options) that have an economic consequence. Also, within the Plan, there are financial indicators (calculated for each scenario). These indicators allow comparisons between scenarios and enable the monitoring of financial performance.

The LTFP enables the Council to improve the connectivity with the Delivery Plan and allows for a better understanding of the financial consequences of the Plan. The Long Term Financial Plan is a decision-making tool that helps the Council to model several important scenarios and it helps the Council to identify financial issues at an earlier stage. The Plan presents the effects of these scenarios, over the longer term. These projections help Council to focus on the issues and analyse the consequences. Planning for at least 10 years allows the Council to assess the current situation and make decisions for the future.