as posted here
The Rudd Labor Government has today announced the funding that each and every council and shire in Western Australia will receive this year through the Financial Assistance Grants program.
All up, Western Australian councils will receive record funding of nearly $226 million in Financial Assistance Grants in 2009-10, with around 76 per cent of the grants going to regional, rural and remote councils.
This funding is the equivalent of about $104 for every Western Australian resident.
Without the Financial Assistance Grants, local residents could be paying higher council rates for the same level of service.
The Government brought forward more than $56 million of this funding to June to help Western Australian councils deal with the effects of the global recession.
The grant is untied so that Western Australian councils can spend these funds on a range of priorities such as local roads, parks and pools, libraries, community centres, and waste, environmental and other services.
The Rudd Government understands how important the grants are for local communities where they can comprise more than half the revenue of some councils.
The Financial Assistance Grants for Western Australian councils are in addition to:
* $98.3 million through the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program since November 2008; and
* $51.2 million under the Roads to Recovery program in 2009-10.
Western Australia's 139 councils will receive their first quarterly payment this week.
The Financial Assistance Grant allocation is determined independently in accordance with the recommendations of the Western Australian Local Government Grants Commission.
Local councils' allocations are available at www.infrastructure.gov.au/local/assistance
as posted here
so does this mean that our rates will go down next year ... NOT
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