Federal grants help councils provide a level of service to their communities. The grants are provided to councils established under the Local Government Act 1999 and prescribed bodies under the South Australian Local Government Grants Commission Act 1992.

National principles

The national principles offer a consistent way to distribute grants to local governments. The LGGC applies these principles in South Australia.

Local government consultation

The SA LGGC carries out regular visits to councils to:

• explain how the commission works
• raise queries with councils about information submitted in their financial statements, general information returns and submissions
• encourage discussion between the commission and council about both the grant calculation procedures and to address any issues councils experience with current procedures
• inspect, if necessary, physical features or structures, which are relevant to the distribution of funds.

Publications

Financial assistance grants - quarterly cash payments

The quarterly schedule provides a summary of payments to be made to South Australian councils (plus Aboriginal communities and the Outback Communities Authority).

Grant payments are generally paid on the 15th of the month (or the next business day) for each quarterly payment

• 2020-21 quarterly cash payment schedule (PDF 105 KB)

Brought forward payments

Some payments are brought forward from the yearly estimate and paid to states ahead of time.

There have been two financial years where brought forward payments have not been made. 

• The 2014-15 and 2016-17 financial assistance grants were not brought forward.  
• The first three payments of the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 grants were made on the basis of an estimate of one quarter of those year’s grants. Subsequent brought forward payments have been made on the basis of an estimate of two quarters (or 50%) of those year’s grants.

Brought forward payments do not always reflect the final grant outcomes for the coming financial year. They do not reflect the commission’s approved recommendations, which are not approved by the federal minister until after the start of each year.

Supplementary local road funding

An additional allocation of funds is provided in South Australian through the Supplementary Local Road Funding program.

It addresses the inequity that exists in the allocation of local road grants. South Australia receives 5.5% of the national allocation and local government maintains approximately 11.8% of the national local road network and has approximately 7% of the population.

• 2019-20 and 2020-21 Supplementary Local Road Funding (PDF 48KB)

Special local roads program

Funding for roads of regional significance is provided through the  Special Local Roads program

The local government sector, state government and the federal government have a long standing arrangement where 15% of each of road funding program provided to South Australia contributes to grants funded under the Special Local Roads Program.

Projects identified by councils are referred to the regional local government authorities or the Metropolitan Strategic Roads Committee (MSRC) and these bodies assess regional priorities.  

The regional LGA’s and the MSRC submit proposals to the Local Government Transport Advisory Panel (LGTAP) and the LGTAP makes recommendations to the Grants Commission for approval by the state and federal ministers.

• Special Local Roads Program 2020-21 (PDF 72 KB)
• Special Local Roads Program 2019-20 (PDF 70 KB)

Contact

GPO Box 2329

ADELAIDE SA 5001

Email: grants.commission [at] sa.gov.au