Orange $5 million Conservatorium, planetarium budget boost plan

Orange City Council will consider using $5 million out of its reserves to fill the remaining hole in the $20 million needed for the projects planned for the Northcourt area at March Street when it decides its 2021/22 budget next month. The draft budget has been on exhibition.

The federal government has allocated $10 million toward the project and council expects to raise about $5 million through the sale of the existing Conservatorium site on Hill Street. However the state government has failed to provide funds.

Council has asked staff for a report into how the missing funds could be found.

Mayor Cr Reg Kidd said with low interest rates providing low returns on council's investments it might be a good time to redirect some money into key projects.

"We are looking at a lot of projects we can get on with," he said.

Cr Kidd said there could be cost savings if the project could follow work currently underway on the site to extend the Orange Regional Gallery.

"Whilst interest rates are so low it may be the time for us to invest some of our funds in finishing off the Conservatorium of Music," he said.

"It has been hanging and dangling around. It makes sense to put it into that project."

Cr Stephen Nugent said a statement of council investments showed "the portfolio performance has been trending down since May 2020" and asked if that would continue.

Council chief financial officer Jason Cooke told this week's meeting the council was largely restricted to investing in term deposits.

He said when it went to market this month to look for investments the best interest rates on offer were 0.36 per cent for A-rated accounts, 0.5 per cent for B-rated and 1.25 per cent for five-year terms.

"I think it [portfolio performance] is going to keep trending down as our longer-term [deposits] roll off," he said.

"We are really hamstrung in what we can really invest in.

"It would be good if we could invest in anything other than term deposits."

He said council was also limited in how much of its funds it could invest in B-rated or long-term accounts.

Under the draft budget residential and business rates will rise by two per cent.

That is capped by the state government's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.

It will mean average residential rates will increase by $32.35 per year, or by $1.12 per week, including water, waste and sewer charges.

Average business rates will increase by $96.96 or $1.86 per week.

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