Independent review finds Sunshine Coast Council in a strong financial position

Queensland Treasury Corporation has rated Sunshine Coast Council's financial position as "strong" with a "neutral" outlook following a recent credit review.

Council's Finance Chair, Councillor Chris Thompson, said the strong rating meant the council had a high capacity to meet its financial commitments in the short, medium and long term.

"The ‘neutral’ outlook means there are no known issues likely to affect the council's financial stability," he said.

"It's an outstanding result; we are one of the few councils in Queensland to get that result."

Cr Thompson said the council commitment to strong financial management had overcome the uncertainty over the global financial crisis, the loss of its water business and ongoing issues of council amalgamation.

He said the council had also imposed an efficiency dividend program upon itself delivering $13 million in savings in 2009/10 and had set another $5 million target in the current financial year.

"Not only did we achieve the $13 million target, we also delivered a modest operating surplus of $3.5 million," Cr Thompson said.

"It did not come easily, but councillors and council have managed to pull together and hold the line.

"And we made some tough decisions along the way.

"The flow-on is the community can be very confident Sunshine Coast Council can deliver a good budget in 2011/12," he said.

Council still holds about $3.8 billion in assets, despite handing over $1.6bn of assets to Unitywater, with an annual budget of about $627 million, Cr Thompson said.