A record $116 million\u00a0capital works\u00a0program\u00a0that\u00a0will generate\u00a0up to\u00a0700 local jobs and\u00a0increase the local economy\u2019s economic\u00a0output\u00a0by\u00a0$275 million,\u00a0is the\u00a0centrepiece\u00a0of\u00a0City of Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0response to the\u00a0devastating\u00a0impact of COVID-19.
\nLord Mayor\u00a0Nuatali Nelmes\u00a0said the\u00a02020\/21\u00a0budget\u00a0was a significant budget for the City of Newcastle, with the\u00a0national economy\u00a0now in recession and\u00a0more than\u00a041,000\u00a0people either losing their job or withdrawing from the\u00a0local\u00a0labour force\u00a0since February.
\n\u201cWhen it comes to major\u00a0economic\u00a0downturns through\u00a0incidents such as COVID-19,\u00a0governments at all levels have a responsibility to\u00a0accelerate\u00a0investment to both keep people employed and\u00a0uplift\u00a0economic activity,\u201d the Lord\u00a0Mayor said.
\n\u201cCity of Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0$116 million\u00a0capital\u00a0works program\u00a0for\u00a0the next 12 months\u00a0is\u00a0projected\u00a0to create\u00a0up to\u00a0700 local jobs and increase total economic output in\u00a0our\u00a0local government area\u00a0by\u00a0up to\u00a0$275 million.
\n\u201cThe budget also\u00a0includes\u00a0a further $3.3\u00a0million\u00a0Community and Economic Resilience Package\u00a0providing significant\u00a0targeted\u00a0relief for businesses, residents and the most\u00a0disadvantaged members of our community.
\n\u201cThe elected Council recognises the critical need for the City of Newcastle to\u00a0lead from local government by helping to\u00a0kick start our\u00a0local economy back into gear\u201d, Cr Nelmes said.
\nOver the next 12 months\u00a0the city will deliver a record local infrastructure works program, including:<\/p>\n
City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said the record $116 million infrastructure program will be delivered despite a $12 million reduction in income caused by COVID-19.
\n\u201cThe prudent financial management of City of Newcastle means we have the capacity to fund this COVID-19 stimulus budget, without borrowing. Instead the $336 million budget will be funded from forecast income with a $23 million shortfall funded from existing reserves,\u201d Mr Bath said.
\nThe draft 20\/21 Budget\u00a0was placed on public exhibition\u00a0from March to May and\u00a0almost 70\u00a0per cent of the submissions\u00a0were\u00a0positive or constructive. The\u00a0City\u2019s support\u00a0for\u00a0the community\u00a0and its future financial sustainability\u00a0garnered\u00a0the most responses\u00a0from the\u00a0community.
\nCouncillor Nelmes added that the brave decisions by most of the elected Council have protected and expanded our services, while the increased investment into capital works has significantly stimulated the local economy.
\n\u201cIndependent economic analysis shows that our investment in local infrastructure has sustained over 3,500 local jobs and increased economic output across Newcastle by more than $1.27 billion since 2015.
\n\u201cWe have committed\u00a0to infrastructure upgrades at Wallsend\u00a0to help mitigate continued flooding in the town centre\u00a0with detailed designs\u00a0being developed\u00a0for the\u00a0reconstruction\u00a0of\u00a0Boscawen Street and Nelson Street\u00a0Bridges.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re also directing $14.2 million to revitalise suburban hubs and local centres to improve public amenity and pedestrian safety at Kotara, Wallsend, Stockton, Shortland, Merewether and Hunter Street to ensure the best possible outcomes for local businesses and our communities.
\n\u201cOur City has invested in an advanced organics recycling facility\u00a0at Summerhill\u00a0which will divert around\u00a0900,000 tonnes of food and garden organics from landfill and\u00a0will\u00a0slash greenhouse emissions\u00a0as part of a 25-year commitment to revolutionise food and garden waste treatment.
\n\u201cThe City\u2019s\u00a0annual\u00a0street\u00a0tree planting program will\u00a0also\u00a0deliver the benefit of\u00a0cleaner air, reduced stormwater runoff, habitat for local biodiversity, more shade and a cooler urban environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A record $116 million\u00a0capital works\u00a0program\u00a0that\u00a0will generate\u00a0up to\u00a0700 local jobs and\u00a0increase the local economy\u2019s economic\u00a0output\u00a0by\u00a0$275 million,\u00a0is the\u00a0centrepiece\u00a0of\u00a0City of Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0response to the\u00a0devastating\u00a0impact of COVID-19. Lord Mayor\u00a0Nuatali Nelmes\u00a0said the\u00a02020\/21\u00a0budget\u00a0was a significant budget for the City of Newcastle, with the\u00a0national economy\u00a0now in recession and\u00a0more than\u00a041,000\u00a0people either losing their job or withdrawing from the\u00a0local\u00a0labour force\u00a0since February. \u201cWhen it comes to … Continue reading “$275 million boost to City\u2019s economy from COVID-19 inspired works program”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}