The Rudd Labor Government has today announced the funding that each and every council in Queensland will receive this year through the Financial Assistance Grants program.

All up, Queensland councils will receive record funding of more than $378 million in Financial Assistance Grants in 2009-10.

This funding is the equivalent of more than $90 for every Queensland 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 $94 million of this funding to June to help Queensland councils deal with the effects of the current global recession.

The grant is untied so that Queensland councils can spend these funds on local 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 for some councils.

The Financial Assistance Grants for Queensland are in addition to:

• $188.1 million through the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program since November 2008; and


• $71.2 million under the Roads to Recovery program in 2009-10.

Queensland’s 73 councils will receive their first quarterly payment this week.

The Financial Assistance Grant allocation is determined independently in accordance with the recommendations of the Queensland Local Government Grants Commission.

Local councils’ allocations are available at http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/local/assistance.