The Rudd Labor Government has today announced the funding that each and every local governing body in South Australia will receive this financial year through the Financial Assistance Grants program.

All up, South Australian local government will receive record funding of more than $131 million in Financial Assistance Grants in 2009-10, with around 60 per cent of the grants going to regional, rural and remote councils.

This funding is the equivalent of more than $82 for every South 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 $32 million of this funding to June to help South Australian councils deal with the effects of the current global recession.

The grant is untied so that South Australian local government 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 of some councils.

The Financial Assistance Grants for South Australian councils are in addition to:

• $67.9 million through the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program since November 2008;


• $28.4 million under the Roads to Recovery program in 2009-10; and


• $18.4 million in supplementary local road funding in 2009-10 specifically for South Australian local government.

South Australia’s 74 local governing bodies will receive their first quarterly payment this week.

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

Details of the allocations are available at http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/local/assistance