General News
1 November, 2022
Annual report highlights Shire’s success
Mareeba Shire Council presented its annual report for 2021/22 with pride at last week’s meeting, remaining one Queensland’s fastest growing local government areas.
Some key figures highlighted in the report were library visitation improved drastically with around 30,000 more people using the shire’s libraries, a near 1000 person increase in public hall usage and $1.4 million more in industrial park land sales.
Mayor Angela Toppin said she was proud to see Mareeba Shire continue to grow.
“The shire has continued to keep pace with the rest of Queensland after being named as one of the top 10 fastest growing Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Queensland in 2019/20,” she said.
Council’s capital program expended more than $20 million across the shire which included critical water infra-structure upgrades for Chillagoe which allowed its level 3 water restrictions to be lifted.
“The water infrastructure works in Chillagoe allowed council to lift Level 3 water restrictions that have been in place since 2017,” Mayor Toppin said.
Other projects included the replace-ment of the Granite Creek Sewer Pump Station, upgrading of the transport infrastructure network and major projects and council’s ongoing commitment to upgrade Mareeba ageing water network.
“This was the commitment we as council made back in 2020 and continue to progress as part of our 10-year plan,” Mayor Toppin said.
In addition, council launched its very first parks and open spaces strategy which is designed to improve the liveability across the shire, the new strategy saw a record spend on parks and open spaces by the council.
Councillor Lenore Wyatt drew attention to the amount council spent on volunteer organisations in the form of grants and funding.
“We are looking at nearly a quarter of a million dollars that we give annually to our community,” she said.
“It assists our volunteers to get on and do what they are doing which makes our communities better places for it.”
Cr Wyatt also made mention of council’s recent addition of solar panels on numerous council buildings which ended up providing a surplus power generation in excess of 50,000 watt hours to the grid.
“The decisions we are making as a council, sometimes they are hard and people question them but you can see the benefits from them here in the long run,” she said.
Mayor Toppin felt proud to hand down the report and noted how the council is held up as an example of sustainability.
“Mareeba Shire Council is held up as an example of how to be a sustain-able council, our reputation as a high performing council is a result of the efforts of councillors and council staff – I thank them sincerely for this,” she said.
“As mayor, I am very proud of Mareeba Shire Council’s achievements and that the shire continues to grow.”
ANNUAL REPORT SNAPSHOT
Total building approvals – 361
Dwelling approvals –143
Library memberships – 6679
Swimming pool admissions – 36,187
Waste disposed to landfill – 41,729 tonnes
Recyclable materials for re-use – 9019 tonnes
Grants to community organisations – $233,552
