Home > Grants

Financial Assistance Grant

The Financial Assistance Grant is provided by the Commonwealth under the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 (Cwlth) and is distributed annually to 73 local governing bodies within Queensland by the Minister for Local Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.

There are two separately identified components to the Financial Assistance Grant:

The identified road component is allocated to local governing bodies on the basis of the relative needs of each local governing body for road expenditure and to preserve its road assets.

The fiscal equalisation component (or general purpose component) is allocated to local governing bodies on the principle of Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation, that is, grants that the local governing body receives should enable them to function by reasonable effort to an average standard. Differences in expenses for performance of functions and the capacity to raise revenue are taken into account to establish the average level of performance in revenue capacity and expenditure need.

Both grants are untied which means councils are able to use these funds for any general council activity. Payments are made in four quarterly installments due generally around the 15th of the middle month of each quarter.

The 2009-2010 financial year was an exception where an early payment was made in June 2009. For this year the grant will be allocated to local councils in five payments (one early and four quarterly).

Financial Assistance Grant Allocations

The allocation of Commonwealth funds between States and Territories for the Financial Assistance Grant is increased annually in real per capita terms and includes a Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment based on the difference between the estimated and actual CPI from the previous year’s grant, as well as a population adjustment.

The links below provide details on the allocations for the Financial Assistance Grant provided to Queensland local governing bodies.

2009-2010 Grant Allocations ( PDF 29 kB)
2008-2009 Grant Allocations ( PDF 56 kB)
2007-2008 Grant Allocations ( PDF 67 kB)
2006-2007 Grant Allocations ( PDF 39 kB)
2005-2006 Grant Allocations ( PDF 70 kB)
2004-2005 Grant Allocations ( PDF 51 kB)
2003-2004 Grant Allocations ( PDF 147 kB)
2002-2003 Grant Allocations ( PDF 150 kB)
2001-2002 Grant Allocations ( PDF 148 kB)

For further information regarding Grant allocations or methodology please refer to the Annual report.

Last updated: 8 September 2009