A review one year on from an assessment audit has revealed marked improvements to the asset management procedures of 42 NSW councils.
In 2011, 42 Group Three councils with populations under 10,000 undertook an assessment audit as part of the NSW Integrated Planning and Reporting (IPR) framework.
The audit, which ran from July to September 2011, was conducted using the IPWEA NAMS.PLUS.lite maturity model, which is fully compatible with the National Assessment Framework (NAF).
Most councils were initially well below core – most had no or minimal asset management plans – and none linked to long-term financial planning. Most had no asset management strategy.
A follow up audit was conducted in June-July 2012. Within 12 months, more than 80 per cent have core-level asset management plans, strategies, policies and long-term financial planning. Many had received $30,000 in assistance from the NSW Department of Local Government under the Commonwealth’s Local Government Reform Fund (LGRF).
Most of the asset management plans and strategies are at least, or better than, the level of many large, urban or regional Group One, Two or Three councils.
Conargo Shire Council, in southern NSW, was one on the local government areas that undertook the audit. Its Director of Engineering David Kerslake says the process was very beneficial.
“We’re a small rural council with limited resources, so we don’t have specific staff for asset management,” he says. “It’s handled by the engineering department: myself and a few staff. So, to get assistance under the LGRF to help us complete the audit and set out a plan for what we need to put in place has been very beneficial.
“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve achieved. There was only one little red box when we last reviewed the audit, and that was only because we needed some extra data. We are now thinking about getting some extra staff in after doing the review. The council has embraced the process and are actually driving it.”
High performing Councils all used IPWEA’s Asset Management for Small Communities/NAMS.PLUS templates, online tools and training. This was funded under the LGRF, with about $5000 going to each council towards these costs.
All have improvement programs in place to maintain or improve current maturity. All have significant improvement to internal capability.
All the councils directly engaged management and councillors to achieve these improvements and benefited from the integration between NAF, LGRF and IPR.
For more information contact Leon Patterson, IPWEA’s National Director Infrastructure Management at
lpatterson@ipwea.org.au