By Mitch Gaynor
SUNSHINE Coast councillors have clashed over plans to increase borrowing by $20 million while deferring about $86m in capital works, with opponents warning council is “living on the credit card” and “borrowing to do less”.
Council voted 7-2 on Thursday to adopt its first 2026-27 Budget Review, increasing its capital works program by $43.5m from $296.5m to $340m and lifting planned borrowings from $21.1m to about $41m.
But Budget Portfolio Cr Jenny Broderick rejected suggestions the $86 million in deferred works represented projects being abandoned.
“While there is $86m of project deferrals, these primarily … reflect project timing, procurement, and delivery considerations, rather than any reduction in council’s commitment to delivering those projects,” she said.
“A budget deferral does not mean a project has been cancelled.”
Cr Broderick said the review was largely about matching project budgets with realistic construction and procurement timeframes, while about $55.6m of works had been carried over from last financial year.
Finance chair Cr Ted Hungerford defended the increased borrowing, saying council had deliberately not drawn down all of its approved debt last year because projects were delayed.
“These are not new projects,” he said.
Cr Hungerford said council was proposing to borrow $173.6m across the four-year outlook while repaying $144.6m, a net debt increase of about $29m.
He said that borrowing would help secure $307.1m in state and federal grants and subsidies that council could not otherwise afford to match.
But Division 6 Cr Christian Dickson said he remained “very nervous”, pointing to projects in his division including Palmview library and community facilities and upgrades to Dixon Road and Sippy Downs Drive that had been lost or pushed back. “It also feels that we’re in a deficit budget and living on the credit card more and more,” he said.
Councillor David Law was equally concerned.
“We are borrowing money for capital projects, but we are actually delivering fewer capital projects, and that troubles me,” he said.
After council CEO John Baker sought to clarify that council was not spending less on the program, Cr Law maintained his criticism.
“Projects have been cancelled, moved forward, put way into the future, taken off the 10-year capital program,” he said.
“So we’re borrowing to do less.” Mayor Rosanna Natoli pointed to escalating construction costs and said the budget review ensured spending was being directed to projects that could actually be delivered.
The review also included an additional $18m in grant funding and slightly reduced council’s forecast operating deficit from $7.6m to $7.5m.
Councillors Dickson and Law voted against the review.
Click here to see Sunshine Coast Councils 2026-27 Capital Programs List of Deferrals.
