Mayor’s Message – Winter 2024 Edition

WORDS: Mayor Tom Tate PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

The Gold Coast has rightly earned a reputation as a fantastic place to live, work, invest and retire.

With record population growth underpinned by a dynamic economy, the city continues to attract new residents and new investment opportunities from across the globe.

At the heart of our city’s pulse is the incredible lifestyle we all enjoy: idyllic weather, World-Heritage-listed natural attractions and superb community facilities.

Key to our success is council’s plan to continue to broaden the local economy. It also means keeping a lid on debt while still maintaining key frontline services.

The 2024-25 City Budget was recently handed down.

The budget represents a $2.1 billion investment in new city assets such as pools, skate parks, roads, cycleways, waste services and recycling.

As Mayor and Chair of the Special Budget, I remain focused on debt management, and I applaud councillors for showing discipline and commitment towards achieving value for money with every rate dollar.

There is no doubt current cost-of-living pressures are biting hard. Council’s costs have also risen, putting the onus on elected officials and the administration to find savings across all our projects and programmes.

In 2024-25, our debt will be around $490 million, almost $300 million less than it was in 2012.

This puts us in a sound financial position to weather future global economic headwinds.

One area we are investing heavily in is major events. Festivals like Bleach, the Pacific Airshow, Blues on Broadbeach and Cooly Rocks On bring millions of ‘new dollars’ into our city through visitors and their expenditure.

These funds flow into our 78,000 small businesses, creating jobs for thousands of locals. Expect to see more investment in major events throughout the year.

The 2024-25 financial year will present both challenges and opportunities.

I look forward to working with the community to deliver on our promises. Together, we can ensure our city remains a great place to live, work and invest.

Tom Tate

Mayor