According to this plan, the shire will not meet the Victorian Auditor-General's Office benchmark for liquidity (working capital) until 2025. In other words, it may be difficult for the council to meet its financial obligations for the next 11 years.

The Auditor-General classifies the Hepburn Shire Council as a medium risk and states there is "a need for caution with cash flow, as issues could arise with meeting obligations as they fall due."

The budget for 2014-15 says that the Hepburn Shire Council will achieve a working capital ratio of 115 per cent by June 30, 2015. This is still at least 35 per cent below the amount of money we need in the bank, according to the Auditor-General's report.

The Hepburn Shire Council is aware of this situation as they have stated it in their 10 Year Financial Plan.

Prior to the 2014-15 Hepburn Shire Council budget, at the end of the financial year unspent grant money and unspent capital works money was added into the "cash on hand" amount, which gave a better financial picture than was actually the case. This practice was widespread. The Auditor-General has advised all councils that this is no longer acceptable.

The Auditor-General said in his report of February 26, 2015, that small shire councils such as the Hepburn Shire are the most dependent on grant funding to keep them going as they have a lower population base from whom to extract rate revenue.

He has also forecast a rapid decline in government funding for the next 10 years. Consequently, growth in all areas of small council expenditure is forecast to decrease.

I am wondering where the Trentham and Daylesford/Hepburn Council hubs fit into this new direction of meeting the requirements of the Auditor-General?

No funds have been put aside for the hub projects.

The 10 Year Financial Plan states that any need for additional funding outside of the 10-year plan will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

It seems that Trentham and Daylesford will be competing for the same bucket of money $10 million for Daylesford and $3 million for Trentham.

Some of the money for Daylesford is forecast to come from the sale of the Daylesford Library, the Duke Street offices, the Visitor Information Centre and the old Depot site.

There are no assets to sell off to fund the Trentham Hub though.

If you have an opinion about the hub and the current design (which puts a four-storey building in the grounds of the swimming pool) or if you would like more information on the budget or the assets which council plans to sell off, please contact me at graceson.cate@gmail.com or on 0431 618 471. I will get back to you.