Our Community Relief and Recovery Plan

Our relief and recovery principles

• The wellbeing, safety and livelihoods of our communities, customers, and staff is our top priority.
• We will provide support to our community to overcome hardship and economic challenges.
• Our response will be commensurate with our financial capability and ability to service community needs in the long term.
• Our relief and recovery initiatives will be complementary to stimulus available from State and Federal Governments.

Our initiatives

• Financial assistance

  • Financial Hardship Relief Program

    • Financial assistance package for affected residential ratepayers for the express purpose of payment of rates for the applicable rating period from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021.
    • Applications open to all residential ratepayer/s (owner) unable to pay amounts due after the six-month interest free deferral period because of COVID-19.
    • Evidence by way of a Statutory Declaration demonstrating a reduction of 30% of income in the six-month period from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 as a direct result of the COVID-19 emergency and other assistance accessed during that period.
    • Maximum financial assistance amount of 50% of total rates payable by residential ratepayers for the specified period.

    For more information on eligibility and how to apply visit our Hardship Rates Relief Program page

  • Fees and Charges Relief Package

    • Waive lease/licence fees for community and sporting groups 2021/2022.
    • Waive fees for Street Vending and A-Frame Advertising for businesses 2021/2022.
    • 0% interest on late payment between 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 for rates and charges.

  • Payment Plan Package

    • AlburyCity encourage rate payers to pay their rates where possible, however we appreciate the financial hardship some of our community members are experiencing in the current environment. As such, AlburyCity are applying 0% interest on late payment between 1 July 2021 – 31 December 2021.

  • Rent Relief for Council Tenants

    • Defer payments due on commercial lease/licences for the period 1 April 1 October, with 0% interest applied to late payment.

• Keeping connected

  • Online content and capability

    • Keeping our website up to date with the latest information on Council services/facilities and links to reliable sources of information on COVID-19.

  • ‘Kindness is Catching’ Campaign

    • Program promotion in partnership with Wodonga Council.

  • Ongoing collaboration with Wodonga Council

  • Exploring new innovative ways of service delivery

• Supporting business

  • Economic development support

    • One on one support from Economic Development team by phone or email.
    • Distribution of newsletter updates to businesses on financial assistance, permit requirements and other pertinent support information.
    • Launch of the #MyLocalPledge campaign to encourage spending at local businesses.

  • Tourism Recovery Strategy

    • visitAlburyWodonga destination marketing activation program.

  • Refund withdrawn development application fees

    • Refund development application fees where development applications submitted from 1 January 2020 are withdrawn due to COVID-19.

  • Outdoor dining fee relief

    • Restaurants automatically authorised to transition to takeaway operations during period of closure.
    • Apply $0 per chair fee for outdoor dining in 2021/22.

  • Advocacy for creative communities

  • Supporting buy local initiatives

  • Albury COVID-19 Economic Recovery Working Group

• Capital investment

  • Bring forward capital investment where feasible

  • Leverage stimulus opportunities from State and Federal Governments

    • Maximise the availability of projects (shovel ready/potential fast track) to support economic and community recovery

  • Ongoing review of emerging opportunities for capital investment

• Emergency response

  • Food relief and support services

    • Central hotline provided by AlburyCity staff.
    • Provision of our Mirambeena Community Centre to support Carevan through access to a commercial kitchen for food preparation.

  • Ongoing support to Regional and Local Emergency Management Committees

    • Participation in Regional and Local Emergency Management Committee and provision of support services as required.
    • Ongoing liaison with Albury Wodonga Health, LGNSW, other councils, local Members, Cross Border Commissioners and other key stakeholder organisations.

Our relief and recovery indicators

• We have established a number of internal and external indicators to guide COVID-19 relief and recovery initiatives.
• Data collation is in place for internal measures.
• Updates will be provided to Council on a regular basis.

Internal indicators

• Contacts with Customer Service Centre
• Calls received by Economic Development Team for advice/assistance
• Calls received by Emergency Food Relief Coordinator
• Development applications received and by $ value
• Requests for assistance through the Financial Hardship Relief Program
• Requests for payment plans, including deferrals
• Views of the AlburyCity COVID-19 pages
• Visits to online exhibitions at MAMA
• eLibrary downloads
• Street activities chair applications

External indicators

1. REMPLAN COVID-19 economic impact data

   A COVID-19 economic impact app providing details on the impact of COVID-19 on the Albury economy by industry sector, including employment, output, value-added and wages and salaries.

2. ABS Business Conditions and Sentiments

   This is national data, however, we can still draw conclusions to understand local impacts.

3. Uptake of state and federal grants and initiatives

   This includes the uptake of JobKeeper, JobSaver, the various COVID-19 recovery grants and Dine & Discover NSW.

4. The Better Place Project Survey Results

   An initiative of Albury Business Connect and The Personnel Group, the Better Place Project seeks to understand the mental health of our business community and provide resources and support to those who need it.

For more information about our Community Relief and Recovery Plan download your copy of the presentation