New funding grants to boost local governments in Wide Bay
17th November, 2014
Wide Bay councils will receive a funding boost of over $8 million from the Federal Government, Federal Member for Wide Bay and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said today. “As of today, the second quarterly payment of $575 million has begun to be paid to local councils across Australia, under the Federal Government’s Financial Assistance Grants programme,” Mr Truss said.
Mr Truss said that councils in Wide Bay will receive $ 8,181,299 in Financial Assistance Grants each quarter this year, including:
• $138,167 for Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council
• $1,856,433 for Fraser Coast Regional Council
• $1,306,618 for Gympie Regional Council
• $530,193 for Noosa Shire Council
• $1,755,925 for South Burnett Regional Council
• $2,573,963 for Sunshine Coast Regional Council
“This funding will be paid in the form of untied grants, meaning that council may spend it according to their own local priorities, whether those priorities are in infrastructure, health, recreation, environment, employment or roads projects,” Mr Truss said.
“I am looking forward to seeing our local councils continue to deliver their local priorities, and build on the important works that were made possible through the first quarter payments for 2014-15, which were made in August of this year.”
The grants will build upon the Federal Government’s $565 million Black Spot and $2.1 billion Roads to Recovery programmes, which are providing funding to local councils across Australia.
Details of the allocations to councils under the Financial Assistance Grants Programme are available online at: http://www.regional.gov.au/local/assistance/index.aspx.
