Business Plan and Budget

The business plan and budget is the key annual operational and financial planning document of the City of Adelaide. It describes what services and projects we plan to provide in the upcoming financial year and how we propose to allocate our budget.

View the 2025/26 Business Plan and Budget

View the summary brochure

You can view a hard copy of the Business Plan and Budget at Council’s Customer Service Centre (25 Pirie Street, Adelaide), libraries and community centres.

The 2025/26 Business Plan and Budget is the key annual operational and financial planning document for the City of Adelaide. It describes the priorities, programs, services and projects that we plan to deliver, our sources of revenue, financial levers, long term sustainability and how we propose to allocate our budget in the coming year. This plan delivers on Year 2 of the Strategic Plan 2024-2028.

In 2025/26 budgeted expenditure of $295.322 million across operating and capital budgets focuses on the prioritisation of community and civic services, activities that support the city’s cultural and economic development, and projects that maintain and upgrade infrastructure within the city and the Adelaide Park Lands. Council is budgeting to generate an operating surplus of $8.541m in the 2025/26 financial year. This operating surplus enables funding of Council’s commitment of 1.5% rates revenue for upgrade of community buildings in the Park Lands, service borrowings for agreed capital projects, and accounts for future service and maintenance necessitated by growth from new developments. Council will also continue to support for our subsidiaries Kadaltilla / Adelaide Park Lands Authority, Adelaide Central Market Authority and the Adelaide Economic Development Agency.

Our diverse range of strategies will continue to focus on repairing our budget after continued financial pressures that have impacted our ability to renew assets, upgrade infrastructure and provide core community services. Council proposes to do this through:

• A focus on delivery of the Strategic Plan 2024-2028 with key projects and infrastructure upgrades
• Delivery of core council services
• Delivery of a financially sustainable budget with an equitable approach to income generation, in line with our Long Term Financial Plan
• Delivery of an operating position to meet the ongoing cost requirements of our Asset Management Plans, working towards a target of 100 per cent asset renewals
• A moderate rate increase based on CPI that supports businesses during this period of economic instability
• Prioritising our operational budget, grants and sponsorships and where there are opportunities to partner with other levels of Government to seek co-funding.

The Statement of Amendments provides the City of Adelaide's significant changes, following internal review and public consultation throughout May and June 2025 on the Draft 2025/26 Business Plan and Budget.

To ensure the delivery of the Strategic Plan’s long-term vision and the short-term actions and measures, it is essential to embed these into the everyday business of Council, which is achieved annually through the Business Plan and Budget. This process also allows Council to identify our Key Actions from our 2024–2028 Strategic Plan to prioritise for the year ahead.

The 2025/26 Business Plan priorities, aligned to the Strategic Plan aspirations are:

As the Capital City Council for all South Australians, we play a key role in ensuring that Adelaide continues to be a cultural, civic and economic hub where our residents, students, visitors, workers and businesses can thrive.

To shape this future requires bold thinking, long-term planning and a vision. In December 2023, Council adopted a new Strategic Plan with a long-term vision of:

The Strategic Plan is not only for Council, it is a plan for our ratepayers, residents, visitors, workers and all key stakeholders. To drive the immediate actions that will be delivered to achieve Council’s vision we know we need to be bold in how we respond to the challenges that will unfold over the coming years, and we will create new opportunities that will have a transformative impact on our city, community and businesses.

The 2025/26 Business Plan and Budget commits Council’s resources and budget to delivering Year 2 of the new Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028.

You can download a copy of the Strategic Plan and read more information on our Strategic Planning page.

Under the Local Government Act 1999 (SA) Council must develop and adopt ‘strategic management plans’ which identify the Council’s objectives, how a Council intends to achieve its objectives, how they fit with the objectives of other levels of government, performance measures and estimates of revenue and expense. The City of Adelaide’s suite of Strategic Management Plans are:

• Strategic Plan
• Long Term Financial Plan
• Asset Management Plans
• City Plan 2036

For further information or any questions you have in regards to Council’s Business Plan and Budget, please email our team at [email protected] or call us on (08) 8203 7203.