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Pictured: Council adopted the Annual Budget 2025/26 and Corporate Business Plan 2025-2029 at last night's meeting.
After an extensive planning process that started in October last year, Council last night adopted the City’s Annual Budget 2025/26 and Corporate Business Plan 2025-2029. These two documents are central to the robust planning and reporting processes that have earned us 11 consecutive gold awards at the Australasian Reporting Awards in recognition of our transparency and accountability. They provide a clear line of sight from the objectives of our Strategic Community Plan, Sustainable Stirling 2022-2032, to the delivery of our services, projects and programs.
This year’s budget includes an average residential rate rise of 4.5 per cent – or $59 per year – allowing us to continue delivering the high level of services our community expects and deserves while remaining debt-free amid rising costs. We have kept our rates rises well below inflation over the course of the last five years to support our community through cost-of-living pressures during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to have some of the lowest residential rates in the state.
The City has completed a range of bold and innovative major projects in recent years, some of which have made national headlines and won national awards. The redevelopment of Stirling Leisure – Hamersley Public Golf Course is a shining example of what can be achieved when a local government thinks big. This year’s budget features fewer major projects and an emphasis on asset renewal and financial sustainability.
The budget has also been shaped by the City’s award-winning Walking Together Local Convos community engagement initiative, which identified the top five local issues in each of our 30 suburbs. The suburb pages on our website now outline how we are responding to those local issues in the 2025/26 budget.
In the coming weeks, we will embark on a major review of our Strategic Community Plan in close collaboration with our community to make sure we understand your priorities and aspirations. The review will be led by a community engagement process designed to create meaningful, two-way conversations about what residents want us to focus on over the coming decade. I encourage all of you to get involved in shaping the future of our City.
Mark Irwin
Mayor
What's on the City
Local Aboriginal-owned graphic design agency, Norlap Creative, partnered with artist Teresa Miller to create six original artworks for the City of Stirling that share the story of the Nyoongar seasons and Mooro Country native flora and fauna. The above artwork represents Makuru or winter.
Makuru sees the coldest and wettest time of the year in the South West. Traditionally, this was a good time of the year to move back inland from the coast as the winds turned to the west and south bringing the cold weather, rains and occasionally snow on the peaks of the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges.
As well as a food source, animals provided people with many other things. For example, the 'yongar' or kangaroo, not only provided meat but also 'bookas' (animal skin cloaks that were used as the nights became much cooler). Makuru is also a time for a lot of animals to be pairing up in preparation for breeding in the coming season. If you look carefully, you might see pairs of 'wardongs' (ravens) flying together.
City of Stirling kaadatj Nyoongar moort Nyoongar boodja-k Wadjak boodja-k. Ngalak kaadatj Nyoongar nedingar wer birdiya koora koora wer yeyi. Baalabang koondarm, malayin wer nakolak baalap yang ngalany-al. Ngalak dandjoo barn wer kaaratj bandang boodja-k.
The City of Stirling acknowledges the traditional custodians of this land, the Wadjak people of the Nyoongar Nation, and pays respect to the Elders both past and present for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal Australia.
