Mayor Greg Howard said the “highlight” was council’s plans to spend more than $10 million in the region. 

“There are going to be significant works around the municipality which will cover new roads … and road upgrades,” he said. 

“There is a significant spend on footpaths in just about every municipality. I think we’re spending about $400,000 on new or upgrades to the footpaths.” 

A new set of toilets will be built at the top of the Sidling and sporting facilities in Bridport and Scottsdale. 

Cr Howard said the number was “big”. 

“Ten point two million dollars is a big call. We delivered just over $8 million this year in our capital works and we’re going up another $2 million. Last year’s $8 million was the biggest we’ve ever delivered,” he said. 

Cr Howard said a lot of the work would be given to local contractors.

“A fair bit of the cap ex budget will be delivered by doing it ourselves, using our own staff and local contractors. From an employment point of view it means contractors will be flat out over the next 12 months,” he said. 

“Our long-term 10 year financial plan means we’re going to have a significant cap ex budget for the next four or five years at least. That means contractors in the area can invest in machinery and infrastructure with some confidence.” 

The council has also budgeted to start the process of applying for the 2019 World Enduro Series and to further develop the mountain bike trails at Derby.

“The planning for some of that has to start in this 12 months so there is a number in the budget for that to get that rolling as well,” he said. 

Cr Howard said council was “really happy” with the budget and hoped residents in the municipality would be too, saying residents could already see the work that had been completed around the area. 

“If they look realistically at it and look at what we’re trying to achieve, and what we have achieved, and what we’re going to achieve in the future they should be very happy with it,” he said.

The council put the motion to vote for the budget at its June meeting on Monday.