2LT Local News

LITHGOW, Central West, NSW, Australia – The Lithgow City Council has agreed to borrow $4 million to step up its capital works plans over the next 12 months.

The $4 million line of credit was approved at the July meeting of Council.

The Lithgow Council has an ambitious program of works for the year ahead, expecting to spend around $26 million – more than half of it which will come from government grants.

The capital works projects include:

• Waste completion of the Resource Recovery Centre $1.9M;
• Water Portland Foundations Trunk Infrastructure $1.485M;
• Cullen Bullen Sewer Scheme $4M (multi-year project);
• Farmers Creek upgrade works $1M; and
• Fixing Country Bridges Program three new bridges on the Glen Davis Rd $5M.

“For most grants, the Council expends large amounts of money well ahead of receiving the payments back from governments. Alongside of these big payments, the Council also has other outgoings every week that must be met, such as payments to local suppliers and salaries of staff. A line of credit allows us the certainty that we can pay both the big accounts, and the many small ones, when they overlap,” the council said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“The approach is like that of the private sector (farmers especially because their income is seasonal and lags behind their expenses) and households. In Council`s case, it allows us to deliver a large program of new projects, pay our bills on time, deliver more services to the community and support the local economy.”