Your council data and reports

The Office of Local Government collates data sets and publishes them as your council reports for residents. The reports can be used to compare the performance of councils and assess the delivery of essential local services. 

Councils have significant responsibility and autonomy in providing services to meet the needs of the local community. All councils should strive towards providing such services effectively, efficiently and equitably.

When assessing or comparing council performance, it is important to remember that a range of circumstances influence service delivery. It can be much more difficult or way more costly to provide services in some local government areas, compared to others – for many reasons.

Councils make conscious decisions about the mix of services provided, and the level (lower or higher) of such services, depending on local needs. 

It should also be noted that key performance indicators, when compared in isolation, do not give the full picture of a council’s performance. Although they show differences between councils across a specific selection of activities, they don't explain why discrepancies occur. The figures are indicators only and conclusions should not be drawn in the absence of qualitative assessments.

The NSW Government has launched Your Council to showcase the great work of the state’s 128 local councils. Your Council allows ratepayers to access comprehensive statistics on the operations of their local council and the profile of their local community including:

• Council expenditure in a range of areas including roads, bridges, footpaths, libraries, recreation and culture, community services, and the environment.
• Community facilities including the number of swimming pools, public halls, and libraries as well as the length of roads and amount of open space.
• Key operational information including council staffing levels and average rates and charges.
• Demographic information about the local population and councillors as well as economic statistics including the unemployment rate, average income, and number of businesses.

The data for each council is also benchmarked against the average for like councils so ratepayers can compare how their council is travelling.

The website also celebrates the sheer size and scale of our councils as a whole with a statewide snapshot of the NSW local Government sector. The one-stop-shop for local government is a valuable resource for residents, ratepayers and the general community, as well as councillors, council staff, local government peak bodies, researchers, academics and State Government agencies.

The website draws on data already collected by the Office of Local Government (OLG) from NSW councils and other agencies and presents it in an easy to understand and user friendly way. It will be updated annually as new data becomes available.

OLG will continue to work with local councils to further develop the website’s functionality. It will also help guide development of a new Performance Measurement Framework with consistent benchmarks for all NSW councils.