Foothold on footpaths

The proposed budget gives a higher priority for new paths and footpath maintenance.

Council is proposing to spend $320,000 in the financial year starting 1 July and $350,000 to be spent in each of the next three years after that.

Orange City Council has a detailed Assets Management system that routinely checks the quality of each asset such as roads and footpaths. The system assigns a 1 to 10 rating to each section of footpath which helps determine where that location should come on the priority list for work.

The state of the footpath is one of a number of factors which also includes how much the path is used. For example, a footpath in Summer street that’s in better condition might take a higher priority for work than a poorer quality path which rarely gets used.

Footpaths which have been raised during the budget process by councillors such as the path outside Anson Street school are high on the list of work. The priority list for renovating footpaths and building paths in new locations will be assembled once the budget has been finalised in June.

Now’s the time for any resident to have their say about any aspect of the budget, including requests for particular locations for new paths or upgrades.

Comments on the budget can be left online.

Have your say and your comments will be presented to councillors before they vote on the final budget.

Many elements of the budget rely on grant funding therefore, if the funding is not awarded to Orange City Council, these projects may not go ahead this financial year.