Community services and facilities under threat

The State Government is proposing to transfer up to half of Council’s development infrastructure contributions to the NSW Treasury where they can be spent anywhere in the state. This will have a significant and lasting impact on North Sydney residents and ratepayers as these funds are currently spent on local parks, libraries and community centres. 

North Sydney is one of 23 metropolitan councils fighting the proposed reforms, which the Centre for International Economics (CIE) estimates would give the State Government an additional $793m per year in revenue (averaged over 20 years). This may help the State Government temporarily balance their budget, but the cost to local communities will last forever.

North Sydney will lose between $2.8m and $9.3m in developer levies every year – projects from the Coal Loader at Waverton through to North Sydney Oval refurbishment, CBD Public Domain upgrades and playground improvements like St Thomas Rest Park have all been funded in some way from development contributions.

The loss of these funds will mean that Council will not be able to increase and improve public open space and community facilities to serve our growing population. Worse still, the loss of developer contributions will increase and exacerbate the impacts of development on our community.

North Sydney Council has made a strong submission against this proposal, but we are just one voice. Tell the State Government to leave community infrastructure in community hands.

Read the full Council report on the economic impacts of this proposal here:

Infrastructure Contributions (3MB)

The metropolitan councils published an open letter in the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph on 16 September 2021 to raise public awareness of the detrimental impact this levy change will have on their communities. 

Joint letter from Metropolitan Councils (2MB)

A letter outlining the impacts of the proposal has been sent to all households in the North Sydney Council area: 

State Government to take up to $9.3million from our community each year (239KB)

Make your voice heard by posting on social media and writing to you local member: saveourcommunities.com