A TOUGH 12 months lies ahead as Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) balances the books and reveals the bottom-line took a $4 million hit in its annual report.
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A number of the city's drawcard events and businesses bit the dust with the outbreak of COVID-19 and it will be an uphill battle to regain stability in the next financial year.
Councillors expressed concern about the cuts detailed in the annual report at Tuesday night's meeting.
"The annual report I don't think is on the best-seller list of every community member but it is an important document around accountability," Cr Glenn Inglis said.
"I'm normally optimistic but the next 12 months for all councils is going to be far tougher than the financial period we are currently reporting on and we will need to stay very mindful of it."
Even though rates and charges went up by $2.2 million or 3.2 per cent from the last financial year, the council's net operating result was almost halved by 43 per cent or $1.4 million.
The report put the cause down to relentless drought and the pandemic after it lost water fees and charges and was forced to close the airport and entertainment venues.
And, even though it appears the council's financial statements are on shaky ground - 2020 had been an opportunity for growth in other ways, Cr Juanita Wilson said.
"It's been an interesting year hasn't it, we started off with absolute optimism launching our blueprint and every other plan and we basically came a cropper," she said.
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"One of the things I think throughout the whole business plan and annual report that's come out well is how well we communicate with our community now.
"One of the highlights is how we came out of a raging drought and got dropped into a raging pandemic, who would have envisaged that? Yet business, residents and councils have worked together to achieve so much in good spirits, because it has been lousy."
The council completed a number of major projects including the Tamworth cemetery extension, the Werris Creek Road and Gipps Street carpark upgrades, the Fitzroy Plaza redevelopment and the second stage of the Northern Inland Centre of Sporting Excellence.
The annual report was received by the councillors on Tuesday.