The Community Vision, Council Plan, Asset Plan and 10-Year Long Term Financial Plan (Financial Plan) help guide and shape Council decision making. Alongside the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan, they form part of Council’s Integrated Planning Framework.

• The Council Plan is a critical document that guides what we do and how we do it over a four-year period.
• The Community Vision was first created in 2018. It is your vision to help guide our Council Plan and currently sits in the Maribyrnong 2040: Community Plan.
• The Financial Plan considers both the current financial situation and future projections to support delivery of projects, initiatives and programs.
• The Asset Plan provides strategic direction and context for long-term decision-making and resource allocation for our City.
• The Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan (MPHWP) contributes to state-wide health priorities set out in the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2023-27.

Since July 2024, we have been engaging with our community to find out your thoughts on the current key documents and the areas you would like Council to focus on going forward. The feedback from these conversations (detailed further below) was incorporated where possible into the latest drafts of these documents, which are now ready for community feedback.

We believe it is important that everyone who wants to, should have the opportunity to review the draft documents and provide feedback. That's why we are keen to hear from as many residents as possible to ensure each draft is in line with community feedback and consistent with your views. This is particularly true of the updated Community Vision – your vision – to ensure it reflects aspirations and goals of our community.

The draft documents can be viewed in the document library.

You can provide feedback below by completing our online survey, by completing the quick poll on the updated Community Vision, or by talking to Council staff at one of the in-person engagement events in late June and early July.

Feedback closes midnight Sunday 13 July 2025.

The draft Council Plan 2025-29 guides the planning, development, resourcing and provision of services to the community over a four-year period.

Reviewed annually to consider emerging community needs, the draft Council Plan aims to ensure the organisation remains progressive, dynamic and committed to supporting our community.

The draft Council Plan is the result of months of planning and deliberation, which included:

• community engagement and feedback
• Councillor and staff planning workshops to identify directions and outcomes
• research and consideration of the City's long-term challenges and opportunities.

Click here to view the draft Council Plan.

Council has focused on five strategic objectives over the four-year period which include:

The Community Vision currently sits in the Maribyrnong 2040: Community Plan, which was endorsed in 2018:

During phases one and two of engagement, respondents told us that the current Community Vision is okay but needs some work. As a result, the following refined statement was put forward during the deliberative workshops:

The draft Asset Plan guides the efficient and effective management of our assets, such as buildings, roads and drainage systems, through to footpaths, bike paths and parks and ovals, over a 10-year period.

The 60,000 public assets owned and operated across our four asset portfolios (transport, drainage, recreation and open space, and buildings) total over $1.1 billion in replacement costs.

Council takes a lifecycle management approach to asset management planning, considering the resourcing requirements to operate, maintain, rehabilitate and renew assets to meet service level requirements and asset useful life expectancy.

The draft Asset Plan outlines the state of our assets in terms of asset health by asset class as at 30 June 2024. In comparison to the national average of 66%, the health of our assets are as follows:

• Transport - 74%
• Buildings - 63%
  
• Drainage - 77%
  
• Recreation and Open Space - 74%

The draft Asset Plan states that investment in asset maintenance and renewal will be balanced by significant investment in new and upgraded assets to meet current and future demand. This includes supporting our increasing population and increased community demand for services.

This level of investment over 10 years will ensure that our assets don’t slip below the national standard.

Given all that we heard, Council is proposing the following asset renewal investment for the next 10 years:

The draft Financial Plan provides the overall financial framework for our strategic planning, financial guidance to Council and senior management in setting budgets, preparing operational plans, capital works planning and service planning.

The draft Financial Plan is based on predicted financial projections and statements. This includes:

• maintenance of existing service levels (in the draft Asset Plan)
• 27.48% of rate revenue allocated to the Capital and Asset Improvement Program
• achievable long-term debt payments
• annual escalations for each income and expenditure line item contained in the Comprehensive Income Statement.

The key strategic actions in the draft Financial Plan include:

• Set rate increases in accordance with the Fair Go Rates framework and Revenue and Rating Plan.
• Identify efficiencies in the operating budget to promote achievement of a financially sustainable operating surplus in a rate cap environment.
• Ensure service users make a reasonable contribution to the cost of services through appropriate fees and charges, consistent with adopted pricing strategies and principles within the Revenue and Rating Plan.
• Seek alternative revenue streams and external funding opportunities to reduce over reliance on rate revenue.
• Apply a best value service/supply contract pricing approach to achieve quality and cost-effective inputs to the delivery of Council services to the community.
• Investment in capital renewal to reduce the increasing risk and maintenance of aging infrastructure.
• Allocate funding towards addressing climate change.
• Apply new debt funding to growth infrastructure where necessary and based on a sound business case and demonstrated community benefit.
• Maintain current service levels for the next four years to enable Council sufficient time to complete a review of its service delivery programs.

Click here to view the draft Financial Plan.

The draft Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan contributes to state-wide health priorities set out in the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2023-27, ensuring that local initiatives drive broader health outcomes.

The draft Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan recognises that health and wellbeing extend beyond individual behaviours to include environmental, social, cultural and economic factors.

By adopting a whole-of-community approach, the draft seeks to address the root causes of health inequities, empower residents, and promote long-term community resilience and wellbeing.

In August 2024, we asked our community to share the health and wellbeing issues that matter most to them. Based on this feedback, pollution and air quality, lack of green spaces, and congested, noisy and dangerous roads emerged as key issues related to health and wellbeing.

The key objectives of the draft Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan are to:

• establish a dedicated public health and wellbeing plan for Maribyrnong
• elevate health and wellbeing as a focus across municipal services and operations
• strengthen monitoring and evaluation of Council health and wellbeing initiatives.

Click here to view the draft Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan.

Creating a new Council Plan, confirming the Community Vision, and reviewing the Asset and Financial plans is the most significant opportunity for residents to influence the work Council does over the next four years. To help ensure these documents reflect the needs of our community, we sought feedback from our community during two engagement phases from July to December 2024.

Around 2,500 residents engaged on the project across multiple channels providing 700 individual comments.